The Fantasy
by Bluesunkatsuri
Summary: Iris is a real Death Note-fangirl, and has a lot of fantasy. When she dreams about her favorite anime, she is more than happy. But when she wakes up, she finds something that makes her wonder -was it really a dream, or is there more to it? Especially since it just keeps continuing every time she falls alseep...
1. The beginning

** Well, this is my new story! I have pretty much abandoned Shinigami Game already, 'cause I just didn't even have a plot or any inspiration left for it. Plus, it was just really bad in my opinion. Now this one, I hope, will be better.**

**I know there are many stories on "_What if a real human goes to the Death Note universe"_ and such, but I'm trying to keep this one original. Sorry if this, or something similar to it, has already been written before.**

**My OC, Iris, is completely based on myself, and her family and friends (who will be introduced later) are also based on mine. All I did was make slight changes in personalities, and change the names.**

**I hope you'll like it, and please review. I love to hear the opinions of others, wether it's positive or not (but if it gets negative, please don't be too harsh. Please?)**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or the characters in any way. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Now this was strange. Very, very strange.

I mean, ofcourse I knew I had one hell of a lot of fantsy in that rather twisted mind of mine. Not twisted in a bad way, psychotic and such, just... strange. And I knew I often dreamed about one of my many fandoms, sometimes even cross-overs of several at once.

But never before had I dreamed about _myself_ being in that world, being part of the story. Also, I had never, _ever,_ dreamed about Death Note before, even though I was obsessed with it.

So why was I here now? Why did I dream that I was at university with Light and L?

Well, to find that out, maybe I should just dream this dream, no matter how much it spooked me.

* * *

I was sitting at a desk, surrounded by dozens of people, all around the age of eighteen, waiting to start with the test to see if we could go to To-oh university.

Wait- University?! How's that even possible, I... I'm only thirteen!

Nervously, I looked down at my body. Maybe I was dreaming that I was older already...?

No. No, that was _definitely_ my own, thirteen-year-old self down there. Nothing was different than usual. Not taller, not... more _shaped_... nothing. I sighed, and right that moment came a voice, saying something in Japanese. Thank goodness I knew the English subbed as well as the dubbed version of the series. I was great at English, almost as good as Dutch (yes, I was Dutch), but Japanese? I occasionally wasted my time trying to learn Japanese a bit, but so far, I could only introduce myself. Watashi wa Iris-desu!... yeah, that's pretty much it. But anyway, what the person said was probably; "you can begin the test now!"

So I obediently turned the paper and grabbed a pencil. Half of what was on it was a mystery to me, being Kanji and all... the other half was numbers, but what they all meant, I had no idea. Math wasn't my favorite subject, anyway. If this even_ was_ Math; it looked far too complicated. I focused my gaze on the ceiling and let out o quiet, but rather desperate sigh. _Why can't it just be English, darn!_ Knowing that sighing and whimpering and complaining wouldn't work at all, I just went back to the test, hoping to make the best of it.

Hell no- how can-?

Oh, right. It's a dream. I can change my own dreams the way I want it. Looking over the paper now, seeing many familiar,_ English_ sentences, I relaxed and began to write. I actually understood a few questions, knew the right answer. For a thirteen-year-old, that's not too bad, is it? Especially since it's To-oh, for the genii. After half a minute, I heard the teacher's (or whatever he was) voice again, saying the familiar sentence that made me chuckle. I could only remember it as _"Student -I forgot the number, heheh-, sit properly at your desk!"_ I looked to the left, seeing everyone's all-time favorite sweet-loving detective, L, sitting in his trademark position. One that I had oftenly copied, even when I was a small child and had no idea what "Death Note" even was. In front of him sat Light, who was also looking at the weird undercover-detective. Oh my, Light was so hot! Even more so now that he didn't look _anime_ anymore, but just human. What a shame he's a fictional murderer with a god-complex, and a huge age difference. However, four-and-a-half years wasn't that much of a gap, was it? Nyeh, I preffered L, anyway.

Which was only more sick, if you think about it. I mean, he's not only a fictional character, he's _eleven years_ older than me, has _no social skills_ whatsoever (well, I didn't either, so that wouldn't be a problem) and he would get killed in little less than a year from now. And this dream wasn't going to last that long, for sure. I kept looking for a moment longer. To my suprise, L actually went to sit like a normal person would. Or tried to, that is._ Wow, they never showed that in the anime. Kawaii!_ I thought as I stared at him. He looked so stupid, sitting like that. So _unnatural_. It must be really hard for him, and he'd probably get a rather severe backache later, since he's _always_ hunched over, no matter if he's sitting, standing, or lying down. Although, that's just what I think. They've never shown L lying on the ground, except when he got scared by the word "Shinigami" and when he died.

Shit! Almost forgot to make that darned test! _Why would I bother, anyway? I can't pass it, and this dream will be over in the morning._ Still, I felt like I had to do it. Some kind of instinct, I guess. I always did my schoolwork, and only rarely made doodles in my notebooks instead of working.

A long time later, I had a finished test and a severe headache. All that thinking was too much for me. I never had this problem at school, but this _university-level_ was way too high. I just sat down in some dark corner, waiting for the time to go by and for the pain to subside. It would, eventually. Then I remembered the thing I had told myself over and over the past hour now; _This is a dream. You can alter it to your own will._ Which means I can get rid of this headache as well! I smiled stupidly, but stopped doing so within seconds. It didn't work. Maybe I had to use the same kind of method I used to change the language of the test to English? _Oh, Kami-sama, why can't I just get rid of this headache?_ I wailed internally. Now I just had to wait...

...darn it, I give up! So I can change a damned language, but not this? Fine then!

Later, we were all gathered in another huge room. They were naming the top-students.

_Oh no! I want to pass, I want to pass!_ I knew it was impossible, though. No wait- **dream**. _I want to go to university with L and Light!_

Whatever was said, I had no idea. But all I understood was that they were announcing the top-three students. 'Yagami Light, Hideki Ryuga, Iris den Weerden'.

_No way! I wanted to pass, not be one of the top-students! _Was my first reaction. Then I quickly shook my head, dismissing that thought. Who knows, maybe thinking like that would stop me from being number three? It was, after all, more than possible to influence your own dreams, as I had done a lot already in this particular one. My second reaction; _Oh no! I can't walk up there, give a speech and all, looking like a- a child! Someone who's only just a teenager! Everyone here is... I don't know, eighteen or nineteen?_ I thought for a second. _Yes, nineteen would be a nice age, right?_ Then I stood up, expecting a huge difference. It wasn't there. I was slightly taller, and a quick glance down at my body told me that this was, indeed, an adolescent-type body. Does that mean I'll keep this size (1.67 metre) the rest of my life? Probably not, for this wasn't real, after all.

Light had already started his "speech" when I came to stand beside him and L. Looking at all the other people in the room, I started to feel dizzy. I had never been the type for busy places anyway, but to speak in front of such a huge crowd? I was way too shy to do that! Before I knew it, Light was done speaking and L began. He'd be done in barely a minute, no doubt. Less than a minute, and it would be my turn... oh, no...

I gulped nervously and stepped forward the moment L had finished, and spoke. In English, of course. I hoped that wouldn't be a problem. 'A-as we embark on this new chapter in ou lives,' I began, my voice shaking slightly. I paused for a second, tried to control it and went on. Eventually, it seemed as though the whole crowd had faded away and there was only me and a few sentences I had to say. I finished the last half of it with no problem whatsoever. Thank you, my lovely imagination. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to see only a black mist in front of my eyes instead of all those people, looking at me... Seeing them again now sent a shiver down my spine. But I had done it, thank goodness. This was over. Otherwise, it would've become a nightmare instead of a dream, no doubt.

When I saw that Light and L were returning to their seats, I followed them and went to sit beside L. From seeing the anime, and reading the manga, I knew what was going to happen now. L would tell Light who he was, and Light would just say that "it's an honor to meet L" and that he "was very impressed by L's work". The sneaky liar. Half the series, he had been lying. The other half, he was just not telling the full truth. Actually, in the whole series, he had never said the complete truth for all I remembered. And there it was, the sentence I had been waiting for. L turned his face to Light and whispered; 'Watashi wa Eru-desu.' Light stared at him from the corner of his eyes. 'Is that so?' (I will just write it all in English). 'If you really _are_ the real L, I'm honored to meet you.'

The conversation went on, and looked behind Light. I knew Ryuk stood there. But why couldn't I see him? Oh well, it's not like I mind. I mean, a real-life Ryuk? That'd be scary! The anime version of him was funny, the live-action movie was rather ridiculous, but one that looked as real as everything else in here? Another shiver went down my spine as I tried to imagine what he would look like. That would be beyond creepy.

Later, when everyone was leaving, I saw Light heading toward me. 'Hey, you're name's Iris, right?' He asked, speaking in a slightly distorted-sounding English. I nodded in response, to which he smiled. 'That's not really Japanese-sounding, huh? And you spoke English... are you American?'

'No, I'm Dutch. You know, Holland, Europe.'

He raised his eyebrow in surprise. 'Really? Why would you go all the way to Japan to study? Aren't there any good universities in Holland?'

For a brief moment, I had no idea how to answer that. 'Well, I... I want to be an animator, preferably in traditional anime style, and where else can you do that better than in Japan? And, by studying here, I can pick up the language before getting a job.'

He gave me another one of his smiles. One I remembered as being as genuine as he could get during the time he was Kira. Which was probably only half-fake. 'I see. Well, I guess I'll see you at To-oh, then!'

'Yeah, I guess. See you later, Light!' I answered before we both turned to different directions. I had no idea where to go now. So I just went to what looked to be some sorrt of park. There, I just stood and thought about this dream. It had been an awesome one. It had felt more real than any dream I could remember, despite the whole language-changing and even age-changing. Suddenly, there was a loud, rythmic _beep-beep-beep_ sound, which startled me terribly and made me trip. 'Ow...' Scrambling up to my feet again, I noticed I had cut my knee on a stone. 'Well, that's a nice ending to my dream...' I sighed, my conscious here beginning to slip away and the one in the real world becoming stronger again as I slowly woke up to the sound of my clock. Then the whole dream-world became black, and I opened my eyes in the real one.

'That was one hell of a dream!' I yawned. 'Too cool, meeting Light and L...' I pushed myself up, so I sat upright, streatching my arms like I always did. Then I noticed a dark red stain on my blanket. 'Oh no, did my period start in the middle of the night?' I complained. But then I realised that couldn't be it, for the last one had only just ended. Realisation slowly seeped into my mind, and I pulled away the blanket. What I saw, made my whole mind go blank.

'No. Frickin'.Way!'

* * *

**Yup, that's it for now~!**

**The next chapter will be up soon!**


	2. Argument

I stared at my knee, uttuerly astonished, as I saw blood drip out of a small cut. The _exact same_ cut as I got in my dream, right before I woke up. But how was that even possible? I had been asleep, lying in a soft bed. Nothing around me that could possibly cut me. So why did...?

I mean, these sorts of things weren't unusuall for me at all. Once, I dreamed of having a nice breeze blowing into my face as I walked home from school. Turned out I overslept and my father was blowing in my face to wake me up. Such things happened often enough.

But I just couldn't come up with a logical explanation for this.

_Was it not a dream, then?_ Certainly not. I mean, as much as I wanted it to be true, being the fangirl I am, Death Note was nothing but an awesome story. It was a story, and the characters were only fictional. I shook my head violently, trying to get rid of these thoughts. I had to go to school in just an hour, so I better get up, eat breakfast and leave. And since I had a rather important biology test today, I should stop thinking about it completely. Surely I couldn't allow myself to be distracted by some stupid dream that may or may not have been real? Ack, there I go again!

I quickly put on some clothes -a black shirt with dark blue jeans and a black, leather, studded collar- and went downstairs, where I was imediatly greeted by my two little stepsisters. Lisha and Shayen. Unusuall names, I know, but very nice girls. They were twins, both ten years old. Lisha was the youngest -though it was only a few minutes difference- and was the most active of the two. Shayen usually kept to herself, like me, but could also have her outbursts of stupidity. But hey, my whole family had those.

'Morning, Iris!'

'Slept well?'

I smiled, rubbing my eyes. Seeing that cut on my knee had abruptly jolted me wide awake, something that did not oftenly happen. On most days, I was only completely awake _after_ finishing my breakfast. 'Yes, fine. How 'bout you two?'

'Great!'

'Could've been better, but I guess it was okay.'

I rolled my eyes. That was totally a thing that Lisha would say. She always needed something to complain about on mornings, unless there was no school. Filling my bowl with cereal, which was already on the table when I walked in, like always, I asked; 'Where's dad? Has he gone to work already?'

'Yeah, he had to go to the other side of the country again, so he left early.' Came the voice of my stepmother, Amy. I turned to look at her, smiling. 'G'morning, Amy-aims!' I greeted her. She went to sit beside me, chuckling at the nickname I had for her.

'Had a good dream? You're in a better mood than most days.' She asked me as she, too, got some breakfast for herself.

'Totally! I dreamed about De- that anime.' Lisha and Shayen were both rather inquisitive girls, but far too young to watch Death Note. So I avoided saying the name of the series whenever they were around. It was not unlike them to look it up on the internet and get nightmares later on. Some Shinigami and a lot of blood and violence... too much for ten-year-olds, right?

Amy sighed, and Lisha and Shayen smirked at me when I said that. I had told both of them something about the characters and the story already, so they knew what I was talking about. _"There she goes again; L, Mello, Matt, B... and Raito? Yeah, that was his name."_ Was probably what went through their minds right now. Then came the lecture I could have seen coming.

'Iris, you're too obsessed with that series. Watching it, alright. Talking about it, fine, but not too much. Drawing about it... a lot of people do that. But _dreaming _about it? I'm really getting worried about you sometimes.'

Now it was my turn to sigh. 'Yes, Amy. Sorry. But I can't choose what I dream, right? Not completely, that is. And it was only the first time!'

'And the last.'

'And you probably kissed L, didn't you?' Lisha squeaked, grinning mischieviously.

'No!' I shot back. Lowering the volume of my voice to a whisper, I added; 'Altough I would have liked it if I did...'

That made both girls burst into an uncontrolable fit of laughter. 'But- didn't you say- he's twenty-five?!' They managed to gasp between the giggles.

'Iris, dreaming about anime is unhealthy. Dreaming about kissing an anime character even less so. But dreaming about kissing an _adult anime character? _I'm really gonna discuss this with your father when he gets back this evening.' Amy lectured again.

'But Amy! I said I didn't do that!'

'But you want to. You said so yourself.'

'I know, I know... but he's just so-' I broke off, thinking what I would say. 'Er... he's not particularly _sexy_, but he's still awesome... and really smart.'

'And if I remember well, you told me he has the worst eating habits ever encountered in reality _and_ fiction.' Shayen added.

'Yes, but... you are what you eat, so he's totally sweet!' I added in a dreamy voice. 'Not to mention that I _love_ strawberry cheesecake! And Strawberry jam, ofcourse.'

'And there's Beyond again!'

I glared at Shayen, who only grinned at me. 'Ah, Beyond...' I sighed. 'Beyond Birthday, everyone's favorite Shinigami-eyes-owning serial-killer!' Right now, I didn't even care anymore if Amy would complain again or not. I was a fangirl. And it's just... once a fangirl, always a fangirl. It wasn't something you could just stop being in a few seconds. It'd take months, if not years, to never fangirl about anime characters anymore. Like smoking, something Amy has done for the past fourty years. If not longer, that is. Which directly left her no rights at all to complain about _my_ addiction/obsession, if _she_ hadn't stopped with her own either. As for Lisha and Shayen...

'Girls,' I said, looking at my sisters with an amused gleam in my grey-blue eyes. 'Kish, Pie, Tart. Enough said, right? Or... Keiichiro and Ryou!'

Both of them narrowed their eyes in a glare at exactly the same time. Oh yes, I had _totally_ transfered my own Tokyo Mew Mew obsession to them in the past two years. It may sound weird, since I'm thirteen and all, but I still liked the series as well. I had the complete manga series, missing only volume four. But the series was rare in Holland, and the mangas I had were bought second-hand on the internet, after two weeks of searching. Thinking about Mew Mew, my mind imediatly went to Kish, my beloved psychotic alien. Once you're a fangirl, you'll never forget your first anime-crush. Like you won't forget you first r_eal_ crush either. Thinking about that, my face briefly went red before becoming pale again. My first crush just _had_ to be my best friend, Leroy. Totally awesome, especailly since we grew up like broher and sister. That had been a rather embarassing few months.

'That's not the same, Iris. _We _don't dream about them, wether it involves kissing or not.' Shayen retorted. Lisha just looked at her breakfast, slowly eating it again, her face red.

'Speak for yourself, Shay.' I said, holding back some giggles. 'Lisha once asked me to draw Tart kissing her! And didn't you ask for a Pie drawing once? We're all the same, but I just go after the more "mature" anime guys. Like lovley Ryuzaki...' The last part sounded dreamily again, which made Amy smack her hand on the table.

'Enough about crushes on people who don't exist! Iris, you have an important test today, and I expect you to do well again. Lisha, Shayen, you two have only twenty minutes left to finish breakfast, brush your hair and teeth and walk the dog before I bring you to school, so hurry up a bit, alright?'

Yikes! Judging by her tone, she really, _really _ meant it. Trust me, no matter how much I loved her -almost as though she were my real mother, an agitated Amy was not fun to be around. So I obediently finished breakfast, brushed my teeth -not my hair, since my haircut did not require me to do so; it _had_ to be messy- and looked through my biology book one last time. Ten minutes after the conversation had been brought to an end, my brother came down as well. His name was Damian, almost seventeen years old, and on his last year of high school. Thinking about the fact that next year, I'd have a brother who went to university always made me excited, but somewhat sad as well. I'd miss him, for sure. We looked a lot alike -blonde hair, blue eyes, pretty much the same face. Though his face was more like our mother's, and I was a complete copy of our father. Well, except for the part where I am female, and younger, that is. Put the three of us beside eachother, and there'd be no doubt possible that we were family.

'Morning, Damian.' I said, looking up from my book. I only got a grunt and a muffled "Morning" as answer, like usuall.

A few minutes later, Amy and the girls left for school (Lisha and Shayen went to school in another city; half an hour ride with the car each morning), and I was alone with Damian, who was watching the news on TV. Then he looked at me and asked; 'Hey, Iris, how come you're bleeding?'

_Shit! I forgot to make the bleeding stop before coming here! _'Huh?' I looked at my knee, acting as if I had no idea what he was talking about. 'Oh! Well, I- I tripped when I got out of bed, and hit my knee on the corner of it. It was only a minor cut, so I thought it wouldn't bleed.' I lied. Thank goodness I was wearing dark jeans; at least the small stain the blood had left wasn't clearly visible. 'Thanks for noticing, though. I'll wash it off.'

_Oh, darn! I just can't escape it, wether I want to or not, can I?!_


	3. It takes two

**Chapter 3 is here~! Time for school, and for meeting the wonderful 'herd'!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other anime/manga/series mentioned in this story. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

'Hey, Iris!' I heard a familiar voice call. It was lunchbreak, and I saw some of my friends packed together in some sort of herd, like usuall. It was a shame we didn't have any classes together. We did, last year. With Veronique, my first friend on this school. But now I was practically alone during class, seeing as I didn't get along with _any _of my own classmates.

'Hey, everyone!' I greeted them as I went to join the "herd". It was a small herd, though. Only six girls. 'How're you all doing?'

'Fine. Hey, Iris, do you have your Death Note with you again?' Madeline, the only other anime-fangirl in the group, asked. She was the one to have led me to my greatest fandom in months, in the first place.

'I always do,' I said, smirking. I had made my own Death Note during the summer break, and so far, I had written quite a few names in it. Only five real people, though, and they were, much to my dissapointment, still alive and fit enough to bully me. 'Why? D'you want to kill someone?'

'Like hell I do!' Madeline's voice was as happy-sounding as always. She was probably extremely pissed off on someone, but it was not even slightly visible. She always wore one of the brightest smiles I had ever seen. Grinning, I handed her the black notebook.

'Use it wisely, Kira-sama.' I joked.

The moment she laid her hands on it, she grabbed a pen and began writing quickly. It looked to be far too much to be just one name, though.

'Oh, god, are you two at it again? Using a Death Note, or whatever you call it, at _school_?!' Eliza said. Yes, Eliza, _not _Elizabeth. Never. Ever. Call her Elizabeth, if you value your life.

'Yes. Yes, we are!' Both me and Madeline said at the same time. Then Madeline closed the Death Note again and handed it over to me. 'Arigato, Iris-sama!' She said cheerfully. 'I really wanted that Note to be real just now. I hate those kids so much!' Whoops, there went her cheerful attitude. It was so rare, seeing Madeline moping around, even if it was only a little bit. Quickly thinking of something that might make her laugh again, I realized she had never read _Another Note_ yet, with the LABB murder case.

'Hey, Mad,' I began slowly and quietly. 'Do you want to hear about the first time L tried to make contact with a _woman_?'

Her gaze jolted up to meet mine. 'Absolutely! Was it some hidden thing with Misa, not shown in the manga? I hope not; she's way too annoying!'

I shook my head, grinning. 'Nope! Remember Naomi Misora, the FBI agent?'

'Oh my god, did he try hitting on her? Naomi?! But she was engaged!'

'She wasn't, back then. It was two years before the Kira-case, and the two of them had only just closed the LABB murder case. You know, Beyond Birthday, the L-copying serial-killer I told you about. As you know, L had not shown his face to anyone, so Naomi had no idea who he was when she encountered him at a subway station.'

'Oh, this is gonna be good...' Madeline whispered, already trying to surpress some giggles.

'Now, Naomi is an expert in Capoeira, a form of martial-arts. And our not-so-intelligent L thought it would be nice to thank her for her hard work on the case. So, he went over to her, and, without saying anything, practically _attacked_ her. Or so Naomi thought. In fact, he was trying to hug her.'

'He was? Kawaii!' She already had the huge smile on her face again, but I was not finished.

'But, as I told you, Naomi thought of it as assault. So she kicked him and sent him flying down a pair of stairs. He landed squarly on the face. His only comment; "ah, I see. Watching videos and seeing it for real are two completely different things".'

Madeline had probably not heard the end of it. The moment I had said that L got kicked down some stairs by a woman, she had burst into a bout of laughter. It had been in a novel, where I read this, but we could both imagine what that would look like.

'L can be such an idiot!' She said when she finally controled herself again. 'Aw, I want that novel to be animated, or at least made into a manga!'

'Me too. I don't know if they'll ever do so, though. Even _if_ they would, though, it would probably be for adults. The story can be pretty gorey at some parts. Like, how B was trying to kill someone by bloodloss, but without actually making her _bleed on the outside_. When that experiment failed, he just cut off her whole arm and leg.'

'Wow...' Madeline commented dreamily. 'I'd love to see that!'

Yup. Madeline and me. We were both anime-obsessed, loved gorey stuff and were sometimes pretty sadistic. Like any thirteen year old girl, right? Unfortunately, we were _not_ like any other girl of our age. Which was, to the others, a reason to bully us. Well, at least _me,_ that is.

Then the bell sounded, and our fun-minutes had to end.

'Darn it. Well, see you later, everyone!'

* * *

**I know it was a short chapter, sorry! But the next on will be up very soon! (I have already finished writing up to chapter 9)**

**What's actually rather funny, is that I told the "real" Madeline about L little mistake two days after writing this, and her reaction was pretty the same!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Measures

**Another chapter in one day! Well, as I said before, I've finished writing up to chapter nine by now (and halfway with ch10. This is gonna be a long story XD (well, for me, at least)).**

**I promise, in chapter 5, she will be back in _tha Death Note wurld_~!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note and its characters, or any other anime/manga/series mentioned in this story. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

'Iris,' My father said while we were eating dinner. His voice was emotionless, and he spoke slowly. Amy had talked to him. 'Amy told me that you dreamed about your anime last night. Is that true?'

'Yes, dad. It is.'

'How is such a thing even possible? Dreams resemble the things that go on in your subconscience. Is even your subconscience filled with anime now?'

I half-closed my eyes, so I did not see his stern face anymore, but only my own dinner. 'Apparently so. I watched the particular episode I dreamed about yesterday evening. It's one of my favorites, anyway. Maybe that's the reason.' Lie. Lie. lie. I did _not_ watch Death Note yesterday, I did _not _consider "_Encounter_" as one of my favorite episodes. So those things _couldn't possibly_ be the reason behind my strange dream.

'Probably. Maybe we'll have to take away your laptop for a few days. No, maybe a few _weeks_ would be better.'

'No!' My face shot up to be at the same hight as dad's, my eyes pleading. 'Please, don't! I don't only use it to watch anime, remember? I have files for school on it, and-' I shuddered at the thought of not being able to spent time on my two greatest hobbies for such a long time. 'And I have unfinished stories and animations on it that I _really _want to work on! I- I use my computer for good things! I'm working on my skills with that thing. I use it to be creative, in ways _only_ possible on _computers_. Digital art, Animations, Fiction... I don't play games all day!' I protested, reffering to how Damian used his computer 24-7 (well, not exactly. But if he could, maybe he actually _would_.) and played games most of the time.

'Well, you can use our computer for your homework, take a step back and try _traditional art_ again, and my god, you used to write whole novels by hand. You can do so again.' My father (whom I have not introduced yet. His name is Cornelis, and as mentioned earlier, he looks a lot like me. Short, curly blonde hair, blue eyes and a face that was extremely common in our family. As of a few weeks ago, he was fourty-eight), brought in, reminding me of the first fanfiction I had ever finished. _Deadly Nightshade_, a fanfiction about my Oblivion (from the Elder Scrolls games) character, Nightshade, and her life in the Dark Brotherhood, the assassins' guild. The first draft had been a hundred-and-twenty pages, all written by hand. I had also written the sequel, _Flower of Hell_, completely using only a pen. It had taken me months, and I was still proud of my achievement.

He may have succeeded in making my thoughts drift off for a moment, but he had not won yet! I would succeed in keeping my laptop, darn it!

'But dad, that's not the same, and I don't want to walk around with aching hands all day again. I promise I won't watch _that_ anime for a while. Honestly, I _swear_!'

'You can write a little less, if you don't want your hands to hurt.'

'I can't! I mean, I _physically _can, but I'd have some sort of _breakdown_ if I can't write my fanfiction! Dad, I already promised not to watch that series for a while. Please?'

My father exchanged a quick glance with Amy, who was clearly not accepting my promise. But my father was weaker went it came down to punishments. 'Fine.' The moment I heard that word, I smiled widely. 'Thank you!'

'But,' He continued. _Oh, ofcourse, there's always a "but"_. 'I will confiscate your manga for a week, and if necessary, also your Warriors collection. To prevent you from falling back to _that _obsession.'

'...Alright...' Awesome. I'd keep my laptop, but now my Tokyo Mew Mew and Warriors would be taken away from me. 'Lisha and Shayen can have the Mew Mew mangas for the week, then.'

'Yay!' Lisha exclaimed. The mangas were English, and she wasn't that great at the language yet, but she enjoyed Tokyo Mew Mew anyway. Shayen, who was a little more skilled in English than her twin and could easily understand at least half of the books, kept quiet. But I was certain I saw a little smile appear on her face. My punishment, their gift. Knowing that I'd make my little stepsisters happy made the punisment feel only half as bad.

Later that night, I went to bed. As promised, I had brought my manga to Lisha and Shayen, locked away my books in my closet and gave the key to my parents, and had not touched a single Death Note-containing file on my laptop. I had also willingly given my Death Note to my father and Amy, letting them confiscate that as well. I know I was too obsessed, and I did not want to end up in some mental hospital because I imagined all sorts of weird stuff later on in my life, because of it.

But when my conscience slipped away and I fell asleep, my fantasy threatened to engulf me, despite the measures I had taken.

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**Thank you for reading!**


	5. Again

**As promised, she's back in her dreams!**

**The flow of time in the Death Note world is different than in the "real" one in this fic (approximately, two days there is one day here), I should probably mention that already, since it isn't said in the story itself.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or its characters, or any other anime/manga/series mentioned. i only own my OCs. (does this have to be written in every chapter? Oh well...)**

**I hope you enjoy the chappy!**

* * *

I was at To-oh, I imediatly saw that. The only weird thing was, that I did not start where I left off last night. It had not been a huge time-lapse, either. No, this took place only a day or two later. Nothing that I had changed about myself was different now. I was still about nineteen years old, and judging by how other students looked at me, I was still number three. And there were also still traces of the cut I got last night.

This was just plain weird now.

From the corner of my eye, I saw two girls excitedly running to the tennis-fields of the university.

'Eh, hey!' I called as they passed me. As I had hoped, they stopped and turned to me, waiting for what I had to say. 'Er, where are you going, if I may ask? Others are going the same direction.' I had an idea what they were going to do, ofcourse. Every Death Note fan would know what was going on here. I just asked to be sure.

'It seems like Light Yagami and Hideki Ryuga are having a tennis match!' One girl answered. The other added; 'Yes, and apparently, they play like professionals! You're just not allowed to miss it!' With that, they ran off again, and I followed.

They were so right. Being the fangirl I was, the famous tennis match just _had_ to be seen by me, now that I had the chance.

There was already a huge crowd, and I barely managed to push myself to the front of the mass. Oh, and there they were...

I had never been a fan of watching sports, actually, but this was beautiful. In anime, and manga, it had looked awesome already, but in real-life (that's what it looked like, at least) it was ten times better, if not more. It was like a battle and a dance, with the tennisball being the centerpiece of it. The two young men were dashing to the ball, hitting it and repeating that action over and over again, ferociously yet elegant -in a way. For now, they were even. But I knew that Light would soon score again and win.

_No, I want to see how everyone reacts when L wins instead! They'll be so surprised!_ They probably would, seeing as how Light looked like a normal, well-cared-for teenager, and L was more like the "vampire-guys". He was always slouching, almost-white skin, dark bags under his eyes because he practically never slept, and his hair was like a bird nest. On top of that, he was playing tennis wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, and his usuall, baggy jeans. Light was wearing "normal" clothes, _meant_ for sports. Any way you look at it, Light would be the obvious winner. If you c_an _judge people by their looks, that is.

_But, as everyone knows, you can't! L will be the winner!_ Now that I had decided this, I would just have to wait.

And, like I had wanted to, it was L who scored the last, winning points. He had only just managed to hit the tennisball, shot it to the corner of the field opposite to where Light was standing, who made a -hopeless- dive toward it, missing it by only a few inches.

'Uwaahhh!' A slightly short girl with short, black hair and glasses exclaimed beside me. I recognized her almost imediatly; L's in-anime fangirl. 'My Ryuga won! He won! From a junior champion, as well! Isn't he amazing?'

Her friend beside her gave her a poke with her elbow. 'I really don't understand what you see in that Ryuga! I mean, he's creepy!'

Slowly, the mass of students began to move away, and, much to my luck, L and Light were still on the field, talking. Happilly, I hopped over to them.

'Hi, guys!' I said, smiling widely. Dream or not, it was an honor to have seen the famous tennis match. 'Awesome match! You two are so great!' Then I turned to L. 'And congratulations with your "victory", Ryuzaki!' It took me a few seconds to realize what I had just said, but the look of surprise and horror on L's face was a great help in doing so.

'H-how do you-?' He stammered. I was utterly pissed at myself for calling him by the wrong alias, but my inner-fangirl simply squeaked; _Omg! L is stammering, how kawaii! So cute, so cute~!_

'I-I'm sorry...' I quickly answered. Great, now I had to come up with a lie. A good one, and fast. 'It's... I overheard you the other day, when you told Light that you're L... and yesterday, when I was in the city, I heard two cops talk about how unbelievable it was that "Ryuzaki" could figure things out about Kira so quickly... Those two things... well, put two and two together and you'll get this conclusion. Sorry.'

L was still staring at me with the same expression, while Light chuckeled. 'Well, Ryuga, L, Ryuzaki -whatever you want to be called- it seems I'm not the _only_ one on the outside wgo knows you know!'

'I am aware of that, Light. No need to state it.' L answered, an edge to his monotone voice. Then he looked at me again, no longer with a "OMG, no!"-look, but deadly serious. It was as if he could see right through me. I knew that stare from the anime, but I had never imagined it to be _this_ scary. 'Tell me, Iris...' _Oh wow, he knows my name! _**Shut it, inner-fangirl, shut it. This is important.** 'How much more do you know?'

'Er, well... just that you're L, use the alias Ryuzaki with the Task Force and Hideki Ryuga here in college. And, seeing as you're undercover here, I think you suspect a student of being Kira, am I right?' I answered quietly. Even in dreams, and while talking to one of my favorite characters _ever_, I was super shy. It was so embarassing.

'I do, indeed. Anything else?'

_Yes. Your real name is L Lawliet, you're twenty-four years old, your birthday is on Halloween, and you grew up in Wammy's House in Winchester, England. Watari is not only your right-hand, he's also your father-figure. You have two top-candidates for becoming your successors, Near and Mello, who are both still in Wammy's. Your first successors were A and B, but A killed himself and B became a serial killer. But I'm not gonna tell you all this, 'cause you'd kill me... I guess._ 'N-no, Ryuga. This is everything I know.'

He let out a sigh, considering to himself what he'd do with me now, apparently. 'Good... Iris, are you familiar with catching criminals?'

_Wow. Didn't see that coming!_ Okay, somewhere I did. I had read many fanfictions about some OC going to the Death Note-universe, joining the Task Force and keeping L alive. It was, since I knew so much about him already, only natural for him to try and recruit me, not wanting to risk having anyone outside of the Task Force that knew him. My answer was obvious; 'Not really, though I do know a bit about how to investigate cases. Why? Are you trying to get me into the Task Force you're working with?'

'I am. Unfortunately, I have no other choice. However, you may prove to be of great use, so we'll see. Otherwise, we'll be stuck with a second Matsuda, which won't be too big a problem.'

'Like hell I want to join!... I-I mean; thank you, L. Yes, I'd like to be of assistance to you in catching Kira.' My face had gone bright red at my outburst of fingirl-ness, and I was deeply embarassed. To my relieve, L gave no visible reaction to it, and Light was only more amused by it. Then L spoke again;

'Very well. Then, you're on the team... "like hell".'

I giggled and squeaked in joy at the same time, making an odd combination. Anyone'd be able to mistake me for some kind of animal now. 'Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll do my best, I promise!' Surpressing even more giggles, I added; 'And that's not exactly how you're supposed to use "like hell", heheh!'

'Not? Oh well, I don't get most of that talk, anyway. Iris, Light, can we continue this conversation somewhere else? Somewhere... private? Since Iris obviously tends to be loud, I'd prefer to be in a place with no one else. I don't want the whole of Japan to know who I am.'

Ah! I knew what was going to come now! Light would take L to an empty corner in a cafe, where no one'd be able to hear what they said. Eek! No, he'd take L _and me_ there!

Oh, my fangirlism was really going to be satisfied with dreams like this...

* * *

**Yes, Iris, it will. It will!**

**Thanks for reading, and I do hope you enjoyed the story (at least a little)!**

**I will update again very soon, so keep watch for the next chapters! **


	6. Deductions and Disapointments

**Chapter six is here!**

**To everyone who reviewed/faved/followed; thank you so much! I never thought this story would be liked this much! (had no idea anyone'd fave this!)**

**Anyway, the cafe-scene is here! I hope you'll like it.**

**Diclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other anime/maga/series mentioned in this. Only my Ocs are mine.**

* * *

'So, Ryuga, what is it you want to talk about?' Light asked as we sat down around the table. He had been completely right in the anime -this corner was like a small room, cut off from the rest of the cafe. No one would hear us.

L bent down a bit to grab something out of his pockets. I knew what they were; pictures of the notes Light, Kira, made some criminals write before they got killed. Or committed suicide, however you want to look at it. Both were true, anyway. 'I want to test your deduction skills.' He placed the pictures on the table in front of me and Light. _Oh, Kami-sama, I was sitting beside Light!_ 'These are notes that some victims wrote before dying. I suspect Kira made them do so. How, I do not yet know, but I will soon.'

Light was staring at the pictures, perfectly hiding any form of natural reaction to seeing the things he made himself -in a way. 'They look to be normal suicide notes...' He mumbled. 'However, if you read only the first letters of each line, and place the notes in...' He shuffeled them a bit. '...this order, you get a sentence; _L, do know that Shinigami only eat apples?_ I wonder what he means by that, though.'

'Exactly. However, there was a fourth note.' L answered, grabbing yet another one. This one, I remembered, was fake. 'Place this one at the end, it you get; _L, do you know that Shinigami only eat apples, and have red hands?_'

Light narrowed his eyes, and I quickly tried to remember what Light had said in the anime. Errr... it had been something like; 'You're right. But that seems rather strange, though. Not that the first outcome was so normal, but I think this last one doesn't quite fit. Am I right, Ryuga?'

Both men stared at me in surprise. 'That's right, Iris...' L said quietly, almost whispering. 'This last note is a fake on I created myself. I'm... surprised you managed to see that so quickly.'

'So am I.' Light added, a deadly gleam in his eyes. Oh Kami, I hope I didn't get myself in trouble with this...

'Anyway, I-I don't know what Kira'd mean with "do you know that Shinigami love apples?".' I went on quickly, trying to avoid quetsions. 'But the fact that he used the word "Shinigami" must mean something, though. My Japanese is awful, as you both know, but "Shini" is death, and "Kami" is god, right? Shinigami are Death Gods. Surely such creatures can't be real?' Ofcourse they were. I was well aware of Ryuk's constant prescense, even if I could not see him. Oh, I could easily imagine him laughing his Shinigami-ass off at my comment, like he used to do so many times in the anime. It was a laugh I had always loved. Ryuk hadn't been my favorite character in the first six or seven episodes, before Light got more complex and we met L, for nothing.

'That is ridiculous, Iris!' Light said, shaking his head slowly. 'You sound as if you _do_ believe that Shinigami-nonsense, but are denying it to yourself as well as us. Ofcourse they aren't real. Shinigami are nothing but bedtime-stories for naughty children.'

Oh, he was such a liar. That was partially why I liked his character though; he could twist every truth and turn it into a more than believable lie, and he was probably the best actor in the whole story. To my surprise, I was beginning to like him less now that I did not only watch him being a character in an anime series, but was actually interacting with him. Now I was beginning to see the sneaky, lying being he really was, and I did not like it. Even L, despite my fangirl-instincts kicking in every minute I was with him, seemed less like the awesome character he was. He, too, was a dishonest creature. Not like I wasn't dishonest every now and then, everyone was; but in these two, it was... different. I had always seen them as not-human (good Kami-sama, they weren't even human; they were just _characters!_), but now I was beginning to see that the perfect characters I had always viewed them as, were not real. They were, just as much as any real human, only... humans. Not just _any _type of humans, either. Oh, no.

_Bad_ humans. I could only describe them as that. Light was evil itself, for as much as such a thing was possible, and L was everything but the "pure", good man almost every fangirl thought him to be. He was no better than his enemy, Kira. He was a lying, cheating, dishonest, even _murdering_ person. He was willing to risk other people's lives for the sake of cathing criminals. He did regret, he did feel remorse, but that did not change his actions.

The greatest downside was; every second I was in this dream, I began to realise more and more that this was _not _a dream at all. What it _really _was, I couldn't be more clueless. But a mere dream, it was not.

It was real, in some sort of supernatural, incoprehensable way. I was beginning to think of this as some "other dimension", created by the minds of many people. The fundaments, the base for it, was laid when the writer first thought of this story, of Death Note. The further that fantasy developed, the more this worlds grew. Then it became illustrated, making it even more like a real world. Then it became serialised, enabling readers from all over the world to develop this world even more with the power of their minds, their fantasies. If this dimension, this world, existed, then there must be one for each single story written, every fantasy ever created.

And now, I had somehow managed to find my way into this world, accessing it by "dreaming". I wondered how many others were in situations like this, being in a fantasy world that's become real.

Vaguely, I began to hear voices as I thought about all this. Distorted senctences made their way into my ears, slowly becoming clearer as I returned from the depths of my mind.

'Iris-even-us?'

'You-attention to anyth- said?'

I shook my head, blinked, and realised I had been staring into space while Light and L had begun talking again. 'S-sorry, what?' I mumbled, still not completely recovered from the realisations I had just gotten.

Light let out a (very) frustrated sigh. 'I knew it! You weren't even listening, were you?'

I slowly blinked at him. 'N-no, sorry. What d-did you say again?'

'We were discussing the fact that we need to return to HQ soon. That is, you and me. Ligt will not join the investigation team... yet.' It was L who answered. It didn't surprise me anymore, but the thought of being somewhere with only L didn't really spark the same reaction in me as it would've, had it been a few minutes ago.

'Okay...' My voice was still quiet, but my mind was becoming clearer again. The shock was beginning to fade. Then something hit me, though I did not know what it was exactly. Something was missing. The scene wasn't right. I forgot what it was that wasn't there, but I knew it wasn't something that I could've changed with the influence my thoughts seemed to have in this world. No, it was...

As if following an order, a cell phone rang. And a second, just one second later. Both L and Light answered their calls, their faces slowly changing from emotionless too shocked. Horrified. The moment L opened his mouth to speak, I remembered what had happened.

'Light, it's your-' He whispered, being cut off by Light mid-sentence.

'-My father... My father had a heart attack.'

* * *

**Next chappy will be very short, sorry. But number eight'll be up soon, as well, I promise!**

**Thank you for reading!**


	7. Hospital visit

**Okay, this is the shortest chapter I've written so far. Hopefully, it'll be the only one that's this short.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this (whew, that's a lot shorter!).**

* * *

Minutes after we heard about chief Yagami's heart attack, we were in hospital, beside his bed. Me, Light, L and Sachiko, Light's mother. To Sachiko, we had said that I was, like L, a friend of Light's, from college. The Yagamis talked a little while, and L and I kept quiet, staying out of it.

Then Sachiko left, and Soichiro asked; 'So, Ryuzaki...just how much have you told Light?'

'He knows that I'm L, and he knows that he's one of the suspects.'

'And who is she...?' Now Soichiro turned to me, a curious gleam in his exhausted gaze.

I dipped my head in respect for the police officer. 'I am Iris den Weerden. As of today, I am a member of the investigation. I'm also a student at To-oh, like Light.'

The older man raised one eyebrow slightly. 'So _you're_ Iris. Light has told me a little about you; you're one of the top-students, aren't you? Welcome on the team, Iris.'

I dipped my head again, but imediatly regretted it. I suddenly felt dizzy, and when I looked up again, my vision was blurred a little, and covered in black spots which were growing bigger slowly.

Time to wake up.

'I am, and thank you, mister Yagami.' I quickly said. Then I got up, nodded to the three men and said; 'I am sorry, but I have somewhere I need to go tonight. I have to leave now. Light, L, I'll see you at To-oh. Muster Yagami, I do hope to see you back on the team soon.' I turned and left, feeling again that familiar, slightly uncomfortable sesation of being quite literally "half-awake". When I was at the entrance of the hospital, I raised my hand to open the door, seeing that my skin was see-throuhg now, faded.

So my body disappeared from this place when I was awake? Does that mean my real body'll disappear while I'm here as well?

Probably not. After all, this was a fantasy world, despite it being real as well somehow, and the other one, _my _real one, was a physical world. I really existed. What I, and all the others here, were in this world? Those things should be discovered sometime later.

I opened my eyes and blinked.

I was in a safe place. A place I knew. A place in which I knew what was real and what was not. I was back.

I was in my own world, my home.

* * *

**Yup, next chapter will be in the real world again. I hope those aren't too boring.**

**Despite it being short, I hope you liked it, and thanks for reading!**


	8. Sharing

**Chapter eight; Sharing!**

**First, thank you all so much for the reviews/faves/follows! As I've said before, they really brighten up my whole day! Arigato~!**

**Second, I hope you enjoy the new chapters as well!**

**Diclaimer; I do not own Death Note and its charaters or any other fiction mentione in here. Only my Ocs are mine.**

* * *

All day, my mind had been on hold, absent. I still found it hard to comprehend what I had discovered last night. I even made mistakes during my English class, which had never happened before. I was considered to be able to make tests equal to those in the fifth or sixth year, while I was only in the second one yet. I had been pretty embarrassed at that moment, my classmates only stunned. My teacher, whom I've had in my first year too, had been even more surprised. It was quite obvious that I was one of the students that he admired for their skills, and then I simply screwed up in front of twenty-seven of my classmates _and _my teacher/former-mentor (he had been mentor to my class last year). Man, this day had been terrible.

Lunchbreak, luckily, was a bit more enjoyable, even though my mind was still turned off. It had caught the attention of no one, since I was always quiet. No one but Madeline, that is.

'Hey, Iris, are you alright?' She said softly. When I gave no answer, she repeated the question, accompanied by a poke to my shoulder.

'Hunh?' I said, looking at her with my distant gaze. 'Yes, I'm fine. Why?'

She blinked at me, her dark green stare growing cold. 'Because, Iris, you're _obviously_ _not_ alright! I'm worried!'

Tipping my head to one side, I answered; 'Then why do you ask? You knew the answer already, so maybe asking "what's bothering you?" would've fit better.' My emotionless, monotone statement made her angry, and she slapped me in the face.

'Iris, that's not funny!' She semi-yelled (her voice was quiet, but her tone made it clear what she intended to do, had it not been forbidden to scream at eachother at school. I guess it was, at least). Then she took a deep breath, and calmed herself again. 'Just tell me what's wrong, alright? You're not sick, are you?'

I shook my head. 'I doubt if you'll believe me...'

'Tell me anyway.'

I sighed, trying to think of the best way to tell her our fandom was real. 'Madeline... have you ever dreamed about Death Note, or any other anime or manga?'

That question came as a surprise to her. 'Uh... I guess. Why?'

'Because _I've_ been dreaming about Death Note for two nights straight now, and I don't think it'll stop here.' Madeline had opened her mouth to say something, but I went on before she could utter a sound. 'And I'm beginning to think that those dreams... might be real. That they take place in some other dimension, which I can access in dreams. It's weird, and you probably don't believe me, but I've seen -and felt- enough to be certain of what I just said.' When I was done, I turned my gaze to stare at my friend. Her mouth hadn't closed, or maybe it had just dropped open again, I don't care which one of the two was right. Her eyes were wide, her eyebrows as far up as possible for a human, and to my utter surprise, there was not a trace of disbelief in her gaze. Just surprise, shock, awe... whatever, just no disbelief.

'Oh... my... god!' She mouthed, only making very soft, barely audible sounds that could hardly be called "words" along with it. Then she found her voice back. 'That, Iris, is awesome! Have you really met Light? And L? What are they like? What is _Ryuk_ like, or can't you see him?'

'Yes, I've met them. At first, it was like a dream come true... okay, maybe that's a bit of a wrong choice of words, but you get what I mean. But when I interacted with them a bit more... well, turns out they're both awful people. And no, I can't see Ryuk, thank goodness. I bet he'd be scary.'

'Well, that's a pity... but, _awful people_? I know Light is evil, but L? Why would he be bad?'

'He's as much a liar as Light is, and in a way, even a murderer. I mean, have you not noticed how he was willing to risk the lives of the police officers in Japan, and the FBI agents sent to help him? I know he was willing to risk his _own _life as well, and that he felt responsible for everyone else and regretted having led them to their deaths, that does not bring everyone back to life, does it? I do not call him evil, not completely, but he's not a good person at all.'

Madeline was silent for a moment, staring at the floor. 'If you look at it like that... maybe you're right...' Then she shook her head and turned back to me, smiling widely. 'Hey, Iris? You're probably on the investigation team, aren't you?' I nodded, and Madeline bared her teeth in order to make her smile even bigger. 'Go give Kira hell! Just be careful while you're doing so, though. Who knows what'll happen to you here if you die there. And... go make the story yours, alright?'

'Make it mine? What do you mean?'

'Try to make the changes which you see fit; keep L alive, kill him faster, get rid of Misa, save Mello's life, and Matt's... go and ask Near for a date, and laugh at his reaction... visit BB in jail, attend Naomi and Ray's wedding... Whatever you want! And don't forget to tell me everything that happens!'

I chuckled at the ideas she came up with. The first few, the life-and-death things, were considerable, maybe even important. The last three were just... typically Madeline, no other description possible. 'I will, Mads. I'll tell you every single thing.' I promised.

Then the bell rang, announcing that the lessons would start within five minutes. Quickly, we both grabbed our bags and turned to leave for our class. Before she left, though, Madeline called over her shoulder; 'How far are you on the series?'

I chuckled again, and called back; 'Just after the tennis-match! It was even cooler than in the anime!'

She gasped as she got pushed along by other students, farther away from me. 'You actually saw the tennis match?! I envy you so much now!'

The rest of the day had been easier again, more normal. It was as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulder, a fog lifted from my mind. I had been able to tell someone, and that was exactly what I had needed.

* * *

**I'm beginning to think that Madeline will become a _very_ important character later on... what she'll do, I'm not sure yet, but there will be _something_!**

**Hmm, she believes all of it pretty quickly, doesn't she? Not that it matters, though...**

**I hope you liked the chapter and thank you for reading!**


	9. Making the story mine

**Chappy nine already! I never thought I'd get to this chapter, actually. Usually, I give up soon after starting something (which is why I hardly ever upload stories here).**

**Thank you for reading, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note and its characters, or any other fiction mentioned here. Only my Ocs are mine.**

* * *

I was on campus at To-oh, waiting for Light and L. We had agreed to meet here, and then L would take us to HQ. Apparently, in my absense, the world was now at the part where Light first came on the team, and Misa would soon make an appearance. Soichiro was out of hospital, Ukita was dead. I chuckeled as I thought of the scene I would soon see; the one in which Misa replies to the team's fake-Kira video, scaring the crap out of L by just saying the word "Shinigami".

As I was waiting, I got extremely bored. So I hummed a few songs to myself. _The Fantasy,_ by 30 Seconds to Mars (which I though fit pretty well with my situation; _Do you rise, in your mind, do you see? It's a fantasy!_), and then _A Modern Myth_, also by 30STM. I really liked that group. Then I softly began singing _Strawberry Gashes_, by Jack Off Jill, to myself. While I was in the middle of the song, my mind simply snapped over to another Death Note character. Two, in fact. Two of whom I knew were dead now; Naomi Misora and Beyond Birhtday. I would have liked to meet them as well. I could've asked for some Capoeira lessons from Naomi, and I would've loved to meet the one-and-only, love-for-Strawberry Jam-sharing serial killer, BB. I knew I could influence things still, but I wasn't sure wether I could change what has happened already.

_Oh well... I'll never know if I don't try, will I?_ I said to myself, before loudly and clearly thinking; _ Naomi never comitted suicide, she just went to hide somewhere and investigate Kira on her own. Knowing that she couldn't catch him without help, however, she is now trying to locate L and will join his team. BB didn't get killed. He escaped from prison before that could happen, erased all files about his crimes and himself, and is now heading for Japan, ready to work on the Kira-case with L._

The team would soon have two new additions, if this worked. I hoped it would, with all my heart. 'This will be so cool~!' This, I said out loud, practically sang it.

'What will be cool?'

My head shot to the left, almost giving me a whiplash, and my face went red. L and Light had heared that...

'Er... meeting the Task Force, working on the case... I'm just super excited!' I lied. With the exception of the stammering at the beginning, it came out pretty believable.

'If you're so excited, then, maybe you should just come with us now. We're leaving.' Said L monotonously. His voice was really getting on my nerves now. It was just so... cold, plain, emotionless and... well, you know what I mean.

We arrived at the hotel room that was currently used as HQ an hour later. It wasn't as big as it had seemed to be in the anime, but there was still enough space for the Task Force and L to work on the case. The Task Force was already in there, together with Watari.

'I'm sorry we're late, Iris just _had_ to wander off in her fantasy world on our way here.' L said as he walked in, greeted by the stares of the Task Force. I blushed a little. I had been thinking about BB coming here soon again, and... well, I practically walked off of the sidewalk, onto the street, almost got run over by a car, and didn't realise a thing untill I reached the other side of the street and hit my head against the tree I had walked into. I'd get a bruise because of it, for sure. And my pride had been utterly crushed, as well. I had not only embarassed myself in front of L and Light, but all the people walking there.

'Sorry...' I muttered. 'I'm just a bit clumsy sometimes...'

'This could hardly be considered _clumsy_, Iris. It was more like the worst suicide attempt ever. I mean, who just walks in front of a car, and keeps going on without even blinking?' Light joked.

'Sounds like we'll have a second Matsuda.' Aizawa said. Both Matsuda and I yelled at him; 'What's that supposed to mean?!' 'I'm not an idiot like him!'

Not taking any notice of us, Watari spoke up; 'Ryuzaki, I have prepared the video. Shall we start?'

'Thank you, Watari-san. Light,' L said, turning to the teenager. 'I want you to watch this, and afterwards, just tell me what you make of it.'

Light went off to sit in front of the TV with a soft 'Okay.' and I looked at L. 'And what can I do?' I asked.

'For now, nothing. Just watch. I want Light to do the deducing right now.'

I sat down beside light, folded my arms against my chest. 'Hmph! As if I'm worthless! I can deduce things pretty well, too. I mean, _I_ was the first one to notice that fourth note was a fake-'

'Iris, be quiet.' L cut me off.

Agitated, I narrowed my eyes as I watched the familiar video. I didn't pay any attention to it, though. I had seen it dezens of times. It was just Misa, hiding behind a white screen with a cloister black _"Kira"_ and a synthetic voice, brabling about stuff like "If you switch to this and that channel in ten seconds from now, you will see this and that person die". Boring.

Then the video ended, and Light spoke the words I knew all too well. _It is certainly true that this person has Kira-like powers...blah blah blah... not the real Kira...blah blah blah!_ Because I was paying no attention to them at all, I was -appart from Watari- the only one to hear a phone ring. Watari picked it up. 'Yes?' Silence. Slowly, his expression changed to one I had never seen before. Not on his face, at least. 'Ryuzaki...'

L, who had been in the middle of a conversation with Light, turned to the old man in surprise. 'What is it, Watari?'

The elderly man just pointed to the laptop laying on a coffee table, saying; 'Open it. Don't ask, just open it...'

Confused and curious, L took his laptop and set it down on another table, where the Task Force had all made themselves comfortable on a couch while Light had been busy deducing. He went to sit there himself, too, and opened the laptop. I quickly hopped over to them as well, curiosity and anxity eating away at me on the inside. I think I knew what was coming...

And there it was; a pure white screen, with a cloister black L slowly fading into it. 'What in the world...?' L's question was soon answered, and my suspicions proved right. Something dark red was appearing on the screen as well, next to the black, and together it formed no longer an L, but a B.

'Backup...' L whispered, stunned, if not horrified.

* * *

**Iris; Ah, it worked~! Yay for Beyond!**

**Can this be considered a cliffhanger? I hope so, 'cause I won't upload chapter ten untill tomorrow!**

**Eh, am I mean now? Heheh!**

**Thank you for reading, like always!**


	10. Backup

**Chapter 10 already!**

**Now, the conversation with Beyond might be a little akward, but don't forget _he_ is, too. (Those who have read _Another Note _will know exactly what I am talking about. For those who haven't or just don't know who he is; he likes to dress up like L, pretend to be L, create puzzles and cut off peoples' limbs. I guess that explains it well enough, right?)**

**Anyway, thank you for reviewing and reading, and I hope you like this chapter as well. (I assume that those who don't like the story haven't gone all the way to chapter 10, right?)**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or its characters, or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

The whole Task Force was staring at the laptop screen, completely dumbfounded. 'A B? What does "B" mean?' Matsuda asked.

'Trouble.' Answered a petrified L. I was certain I could see the detective shaking somewhat as he was waiting for what would happen next.

A synthetic voice laughed. _'Kyahaha! Indeed it does, Lawli!'_

'B, what in the world is going on? How are you even using a computer; you're in jail!'

_'Oh, Lawli, don't be so surprised! You knew it was going to happen sooner or later, didn't you? I escaped from jail, went to Japan in search of you... and I found you! Kyahaha!'_

So this is Beyond Birthday. _This_ was really BB, the man I had been waiting for. I hadn't expected him to contact L so soon for a single second yet, but I was far from dissapointed. Excitement pulsed through my veins, a wave of adrenaline. _I did it! I brought him back from the dead! No, that's not entirely true..._ But I had managed to save a life simply by wishing so. Naomi would be here shortly, too, if I had managed to get B here.

L narrowed his eyes, trying hard to keep his voice steady. Of all people he had expected to find him here, it just had to be the psychopath. 'And why, may I ask, would you want to find me? Last time, you arranged for me to find _you._ Did that not work out well enough for you? What's the reason this time; you want to kill me or something? Now that'd be a way to surpass me! Destroy the original, and Backup will be the greatest.'

_'Don't you dare call me Backup!' _B yelled. Even through this unnatural, synthetic voice, a lifetime of anger, frustration and hate could easily be heard. B's voice was pure venom as he went on. _'I am no longer your tool, L! I refuse to go on like some sort of experiment, a tool you use to test how much pressure a kid can take before they break! That's what we were for, weren't we? A,C,D and me? The "first generation", as you call it now? We were never your students, never your sucessors, we were __**tests**__! Well, at least you achieved the goal of your experiment, haven't you? Have there been any suicides in Wammy's lately? Any psychopaths? Any runaways? No?'_

The Task Force stared from the screen to L and back. What was this all about? Hell, only Watari, L and I knew what B was talking about. The voice went on, seemingly calmed down after his rant.

_'Well, at least you have finally learned how to keep you students alive and mentally healthy. Although, the last part may not be completely true. And no, L, I am not going to kill you, however much I want to; I still blame you for A's suicide.'_

'...You have all the reason to, B. It was entirely my fault.' L answered after a moment of hesitation. 'Truthfully, I practically chased C and D from away from Wammy's, leading them to their deaths. I killed A, and I created a monster out of you. Happy now, that I'll no longer deny all that? If you're not here to kill me eventually, what is the reason then?'

_'So __**I**__ am the monster here? Take a look at yourself, Lawli; there's a reason I copied your looks.' _Oh. Well, thinking about it, that actually made sense. _'As for my reason for this... I want to help you on the Kira-case.'_

'You _what_?!' L exclaimed. I had a hard time surpressing laughter. He had certainly not seen this coming. 'You can't be serious! You want to help? _You_... helping _me_?! Ridiculous!'

_'...You know, L, that actually hurt my feelings.'_

'Feelings? Hah! Don't make me laugh, B. If you had feelings, you wouldn't have killed all those people.' Oh wow. L had never been so OOC before, yet, this was reality. It was rather fascinating, hearing all of this.

_'Yes, Lawli. Feelings. Since I am no copy of you, I am allowed to have them, am I not?' _

Ouch. They were both being extremely mean to eachother, trying hard to hurt one another as much as possible, hit a little too close to home. So far, L appeared to be winning.

_'But I am serious. After all, the title of Greatest Criminal belonged to me once. I do not like it when people try to steal that title, and __**hate**__ those who actually succeed.'_

L snorted. 'Right. And when Li- Kira is caught, you'll just steal it back, won't you?'

B seemes to be considering that for a moment, because he did not answer imediatly. _'...No, I won't. I've faced death, I've rotted in jail for eighteen months. Seven other months, I have been locked up in the asylum. Trust me, Lawli, I am not planning on goin back there.'_

L was quiet, and I could not make out wether he believed B or not. When he recieved no answer, B just added; _'And besides, why would you reject my offer? I'm a genius, almost as intelligent as you. And in order to create an...almost...' _The "almost" was spoken in what sounded like a growl. _'...unsolvable crime, one must be ale to solve them as well, no? I'm a master of creating and cracking puzzles, and you'll need me. And I have not even mentioned yet, that I have a... good guess at what this Kira person could be using to kill, or at least something very closely related to it.'_

This last part seemed to especially catch everyone's interest. 'And what may this be?' L demanded.

_'Oh, Lawli! Don't tell me I have to remind you about my __**point of view**__, concerning people!'_

His eyes. Shinigami Eyes. That's what he meant, and he was completely right. Shinigami Eyes meant Shinigami, Shinigami meant Death Note. And the Death note was exactly what Light used to kill.

L shuddered for a moment, and his eye twitched once. 'I... did not forget, B. Don't worry.'

_'Good! Now, am I accepted or what?'_

L exchanged a long glance with Watari, then looked at the Task Force, who were all watching him with pure confusion in their eyes. Then he sighed, and answered. 'Yes, B. Welcome on the team. Just send us a file containing you whereabouts, and Watari and I will come to pick you up.'

_'Thanks, Lawlipop!'_

'And stop calling me Lawli or Lawlipop. Those nicknames are ridiculous. It's just L or Ryuzaki.'

_'Ooohh, Lawlipop has been a thief! Ran out of creativity, L? Why would you steal my alias?'_

'...I honestly have no idea. Just popped into my mind.'

_'Well, give it back! No, wait. Don't. You can keep Ryuzaki, I'll take the other half. From now on, don't call me B anymore; it's Rue, got it? Good! See you later, Ryu-san!'_

And with that, the screen went black. The it returned to normal again. But B -Rue- was no longer conected.

'That was... akward.' Soichiro said. The rest nodded, and Aizawa asked (though "demanded" would have been a better word); 'Ryuzaki, who the hell was that?'

'That was B, a former sucessor of mine. A few years ago, he snapped, became a serial killer, tried to create an unsolvable crime, then tried to kill himself. Eventually, he ended up in jail, where he resided untill resently. Apparently, he managed to escape. Anyway, as you've heard, he's part of the team now.' L explained, once again emotionless and monotone.

'You've got to be kidding... a serial killer?' Matsuda whispered.

'I am very serious, Matsuda-san. It takes one to know one, they say. What better way to catch a murderer then to get help from one?'

They went on with their argument, and I simply watched, extremely happy. I'd have to wake up within a few minutes, but the next time I went here, Beyond would be here as well. Something to look forward to.

* * *

**Yup, that's it for now!**

**...actually, I don't think it's normal to look forward to working with a serial-killer...**

**Iris: ...heheh, you're right... gosh, truthfully, I'm pretty scared now...**

**So you should be.**

**Anyway, new chapter'll be up soon! Thank you for reading!**


	11. End of a weird week

**Chapter eleven! Okay, this chapter is pretty much a filler, sorry. (which is also the reason I'm uploading _three_ chapters in one day. Darn, it's catching up to me! I've only written up to chapter fifteen or so, though I do write almost every day)**

**Anyway, I hope you like it, and thanks for reading.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

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'Madeline!' I called my friend right after school ended. I hadn't talked to her during lunchbreak, wanting to spend some time with my other friends as well, before the weekend started. 'Mads, you won't believe what happened last night!'

She blinked at me, confused for a second. Then her eyes grew wide with curiosity, and she pratically danced over to me, so I wouldn't have to shout about my "dreams". No that'd be embarassing! Not to mention I'd get send to some mental hospital because of it.

'Well? What happened? Tell me, tell me!' She demanded happilly.

'BB happened.'

Madeline tilted her head slightly to one side. 'Whaddaya mean?'

I rolled my eyes. She was so not familiar with Beyond yet. I couldn't blame her for it, though; barely a quarter of all the Death Note fans knew him. 'Beyond Birthday, the serial killer. I decided I wanted him to join the Kira investigation instead of dying, and now he's actually coming! Tonight, I'll meet _the_ Beyond Birthday! It's so exciting!'

Madeline gaped at me, her brownish-green eyes shining. 'I am so jealous of your position right now, Iris-san! I want to meet all of them as well! But, apart from that, what else happened? There must be more!'

I sighed, remembering the less amazing part of my night. 'I met the Task Force for the first time, and you won't believe what they called me!' When I got no question, just a demanding glance that clearly said "Well?", I went on. 'A second Matsuda! They called me a second Matsuda!'

'Oh, boy. They sure know how to insult you, don't they? I mean, you're clumsy, everyone knows that, but _Matsuda_? That's just... ah, never mind. You know what I mean, anyway.'

_Yup. Matsuda is just so Matsuda. No other discription possible._I nodded, smirking. 'Well, the next update will be Monday, so be prepared for a long one, alright?'

'Sure! Bye, Iris!'

She ran off the get her bicycle and go home, and so did I. I still had some homework to make, and watch some more Death Note. I wanted to know exactly what I could expect for this night, though it would probably be different now that B and I were part of the story. And Naomi would join soon. While I was on my way home, I was trying to imagine how Naomi and B would react if they saw eachother again. Kill eachother? Constantly fight? Maybe Naomi would have a heart attack (a natural one, thank goodness), or maybe Beyond would. Then again, maybe they actually liked eachother, had some secret crush during the LABB murder case, and would... now that'd be akward. But it was a possibility, right?

As I opened the door to my house, I called Amy and my father. One of them had to be home by now. But no, only Damian was home.

'Dad's still working, though he'll be home within an hour, and Amy has gone to pick up the girls from school.' He said monotonously as I flopped down onto the couch beside him, where he was reading the newest edition of _Top Gear Magazine_. He loved that show, and to be honest, so did I. It was always funny, seeing three men making fun of eachother, and trying to make somewhat of a _serious_ show, but utterly failing.

'Fine. I'll just pack my stuff for the weekend already.' I muttered, leaving the couch again and going up to the attic, where I had my bedroom. Weekend meant visiting my mother, and there were a few things I always took with me; my cell phone, my laptop, a book, and my medication (I had ADD). I stuffed all of it in my backpack, then took out some schoolbooks and began making my homework. I hated math with all my heart, but I just had to make it. I wouldn't want to end up like one certain classmate of mine, who never made his homework, and when he got caught by our teacher, he was ordered to make all of it (a month worth of math) in half a week. Oh no, I would _never_ end up like that. When I was done with math, I started practicing Greek letters, and then translate a few Latin sentences. Greek and Latin were two of my favorite subjects, like all other languages (with the exception of German; I had no idea why, I just didn't like German).

I had just finished all of it when I heard the voices of Shayen and Lisha. Lisha was complaining about something that apparently happened at school, and shayen was complaining about the fact that Lisha wouldn't stop complaining. Like usuall. I got my bag with stuff and went downstairs, trying to keep a smile on my face.

'Hey, girls! How was school?'

'Sucked!' Lisha yelled, then she went on with some half-muttering quiet rant about what had happened. I couldn't hear a word she said, so I turned to Shayen.

'It was alright. We had English today. It was so boring; you know, stuff like "hello, who are you?" and "I am blah blah blah..." Can't they act as we're _not_ incompetent five-year-olds? I mean, we're all nine or ten, some are even _eleven_ years old! Anyway, the rest was fun.'

I smiled. Yup, it was just another normal day. That was practically what my life had been this week; normal days, abnormal nights. I was more tired than usuall due to it, but I was enjoying (almost) every second.

Then I turned to my beloved stepmother. 'And, Amy, how was your day?'

She smiled at me. 'The usuall; cleaning the house, doing the laundry, taking half an hour off for some me-time, and then went to get these little demons.' At the nickname for them, the twins both exclaimed 'Hey!' angrily, but Amy and I didn't pay attention to them. 'And how was yours? Screwed up during English again, or was your mind working again?' She smirked, to which I answered with a glare.

'It was fine, and no; I did not screw up again. I didn't even have English today. Oh, and my Biology test went pretty well; I got an eight for it (in Holland, we count grades with numbers; one to ten, the latter being the highest. An eight is pretty much the same as a B).'

'Well done, Iris!' Then she looked at my bag. 'I reckon you want to leave soon?' She concluded. And right she was.

'Yeah, it's almost four o'clock, and I want to be there well in time before mom starts cooking; usually, I have to wait untill _after_ dinner before I can actually talk to her. That's no fun, trust me.'

'Alright. Bye, sweetheart. See you Sunday!'

And so I left. I didn't get a chance to see dad before I did, but that happened often. I didn't mind that much. I had the luck that my mother lived in the same town as my dad, so it was only five minutes away if I went by bicycle.

My mother's name was Johanna, and she was fourty-four years old. Very nice, very paranormal. Something my brother did not approve of. I did. I was the same, after all, and everyone can believe what they want, and should not be shunned or mocked because of it. I liked being with her.

'Hi, mom!'

My mother was sitting on the couch, reading a book. She looked up when I walked into the living room, smiling. 'Hello, dear. How was your day?'

I happilly went to sit beside her, and started talking.

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**Yup, the end of the chapter. A weird one, maybe, but I was out of creativity for this one. So I went on with the next~!**

**Again, thank you for reading!**


	12. Comfort

**Back in the dream world again!**

**I hope you like this chapter.**

_**Alternate title**_**; Meeting Beyond **

**... spoils, doesn't it? Ah, it was obvious, anyway.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

'Hi guys, sorry I'm late!' I greeted the Task Force as I entered our new HQ. It was not a hotel this time, but a rather small building that was temporarily rented instead. The basement, however, was large; it was the place where Misa, Light and Soichiro would go into confinement for almost two months soon. Thinking about Misa, I wondered if Light had met her already. Probably, though she wasn't here yet.

'Doesn't matter, Iris. We're used to you dissappearing by now.' Light answered, jokingly. He was busy writing; the fake answer from Kira they'd give Misa, I thought. Well, it wasn't completely fake, actually. After all, it was_ Kira_ who wrote it, and _Kira_ who'd voice it, even though it'd be changed with a computer later on, before the broadcast. I sat down beside Matsuda, watching over his shoulder at the files he was going through. Something I had seen already, so I quickly backed away again. 'Well, is our new...er, "teammate" here already?' I asked, refering to Beyond, ofcourse. He wasn't in this room, that was clear.

'Yes, he's here.' L answered 'I've decided to give him a private quaters for the time being, untill he's proved to me that he's not dangerous. So far, he hasn't made any suspicious moves yet, so I guess you can meet him, but I still advise you to be careful. Also, someone will be watching with the surveilance cameras I've installed there everytime Rue gets a visitor, just to be safe.' The detective didn't look up from his work as he spoke, giving me a feeling as though I'm completely the opposite of _wanted_ in this team.

'Alright, I'll go introduce myself, then. Which room is he in?'

'Second on the left, second floor. Good luck, Iris.' That was Aizawa.

'Thanks.' I muttered, rolling my eyes. I knew I was going to visit a serial killer, but surely it wasn't such a big deal?... Okay, that sounded downright strange. I mean, he_ is_ a serial killer who's just escaped from prison. Now, I knew some karate and could defend myself pretty decently, but I had only a yellow belt yet. Second lowest belt. So my moves would hardly be effective against someone like Beyond Birthday.

My heart was thumping hard against my chest as I reached the door to B's room. A wave of adrenaline spread to my veins. Oh god, I was actually gonna meet BB. _The_ Beyond Birthday. _The _L-copycat and _the_ murderer behind the LABB case, one of the hardest cases L had ever worked on, second only to his current one. Nervously, I knocked on the door twice. 'Rue?' I asked, my voice barely loud enough to be heard. 'C-can I come in?'

A muffled answer sounded from the other side of the door. 'Sure!' His voice was deeper than Light's, but less so than L's. Pretty close to what I had imagined it to be. But the strange thing; he sounded _cheerful_, happy. 'The door's open, come in!'

I placed my hand on the doorknob, but did not open it just yet. I took a deep breath first, swallowed briefly and let a shiver of anxiety go down my spine. Then I went inside.

There he was. A perfect copy of L, with only few differences. Scarlet eyes that seemed to burn right down to the very core of your soul. Slightly paler skin, covered with third-degree burn scars, mutilating his face, wchich was crossed by a psychopathic grin.

That's what I had expected to see, at least. What he really looked like, surprised me completely. Raven-black hair that almost reached his shoulders, and was only half as messy as L's. Pale skin, almost white, which was only rarely intruded by traces of his scars. He had dark bags under his eyes, like L. This time, however, they were real instead of make-up. His eyes were indeed red, but shone with something completely the opposite of the psychopath he was, or at least used to be. His facial stucture was somewhat like L's, but narrower and more delicately shaped. He was looking at me, smiling, showing pure-white teeth.

To put it bluntly, he was stunningly beautiful.

_Oh, wow..._

'Hi there!' He said. 'You must be Iris, right? I heard quite a bit about you already; the girl with the creepy abillity to dissappear into thin air, then pop up again a little while later.' He chuckeled briefly, then went on to introduce himself. 'As you probably already know, I am Beyond Birthday. But please, just call me Rue.'

I stood frozen to the ground. I had no idea murderers could be so polite, so nice. This was akward, at the least. 'Yes... I am Iris. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rue.' I stammered, only barely managing to keep my voice from shaking.

His smile grew wider. 'Likewise. Now please, sit down, make yourself comfortable. Seeing how I've been alone in the past two years, I guess you understand when I say that I'd like some company, right?' Then he turned back to whatever he was doing.

'S-sure.' I hesitated for a moment, then went to sit on the couch opposite of him. To my surprise, he was having dinner. And no strawberry jam, oh no. Not a trace of the sticky stuff. He was eating a completely normal dinner, consisting of rice, some chicken and vegetables. Another major surprise. 'How come there's no jam...?' I wondered out loud. Beyond looked up at me, surprised.

'Oh? Who told you about that?' Then he chuckeled again. 'Yes, I've grown pretty fond of this stuff while I was behind bars. Chicken was a real treat back in the asylum, you know. And usually, it was mixed through some sort of mush of which I wouldn't even _want_ to know what was in it.' He shuddered briefly at the memory, and I could easily imagine how terrible it must've tasted. Beyond looked at me again, and tilted his head to one side. My only discription for it; cute. 'Do you want some too, Iris? There's still enough left in the kitchen, though it might lack the right amount of rice. Sorry for that.'

For a moment, his offer surprised me. Then again, everthing about him was surprising, different than what I had expected. Then I just smiled and shook my head. 'I had dinner already, but thanks for the offer.'

He nodded, then went on eating and studied one of the documents that lay sprawled over the coffee table that stood between the two couches. I decided to read some as well. I had to work as much as the others, after all, I just had a more limmited time to do so. At least, now that it was weekend and there was no school to get up for early, I could spent some more time here. There was one particular document that caught my attention;

Naomi Misora's profile. Everything the Task Force knew about her was written there. Her old job as FBI-agent, her greatest achievement -catching the murderer know only as BB- her relationship and engagement with ex-colleague Ray Penber, who died little more than two weeks ago, and the fact that-

'She's been missing for quite a while, huh?' Beyond's sad statement made me look up. He was staring at another piece of her profile -a piece that contained her picture. His eyes glinstened with well-hidden tears, though he did not succeed in keeping them from welling up completely. 'I owe her my life, you know. If it hadn't been for miss Misora, I'd have... well, I suppose L told you about that before I came here, didn't he?' I nodded slowly. Pity for the young man did not just stir in my insides, it completely _twisted it upside-down_. I had not expected _Beyond_, of all people here, to get emotional over anything. 'I just hope she's okay, wherever she may be... I have never thanked her for saving my life, you see. I wish I'll get the chance to do so, though, no matter how long it may take.' His voice trailed off, and he let out a soft, shaking sigh. I blinked at him. Man, he looked awful just now. Slowly and still hesitating, I went to sit beside him.

'She's alright, I'm certain of it.' I whispered. She'd be here soon, though that was something I wouldn't want to promise him just yet. He'd see for himself eventually.

Beyond did not look up, but whispered a quiet, almost inaudible question. 'Really? 'Cause I- I'm not so sure myself...' Now I noticed he was trembling lightly. I laid my arm around his shoulder comfortingly.

'Yes, I'm certain. She's alright, you'll see.'

He still kept his head between his shoulders, staring at the ground, probably trying to hide his expression from me like that. But I was sure I could see the corner of his mouth twist into a little smile. 'I sure hope so... thanks, Iris. This was rather... unprofessional of me, wasn't it?'

_At least it shows that you're human, Beyond. That's what matters, unprofessional or not._ 'Maybe it was, but that doesn't matter. You're worried about her, and that's completely natural. I do not know her, ofcourse, but I worry about her as well. I'm certain she's alive and well, I just wonder where she is and why no one has heard anything from her in such a long time.' He had stopped trmbling now, and his head was -despite still hanging low and having his face tilted away from me- held a little higher already, so I pulled him a little closer. 'Humans can't be professional all the time, can they?'

Maybe I had said the wrong thing; his muscles tensed, his whole body went rigid. 'Y-you think I'm...human? Not a monster? N-not a f-freak?' His voice shook terribly now, and cracked slightly.

'Yes, ofcourse. Why would I consider you a monster or a freak? Because you killed some people? Because of your unusuall eye colour? No, Beyond, you're as much a human as everyone else, no matter what you do. You are, without a doubt, human.'

Those words broke him down. He let out a few, soft sobs which he obviously tried to surpress, and trembled once again. 'I-I haven't be-been called hu-human in y-years...' He whispered. 'And now, you j-just met me and a-already... th-thank you s-so much, Iris...'

Touched by this, I wrapped my other arm around him as well, holding him in a comforting embrace. Not a second did I think this was weird, did I think about the fact that this was a fugitive, a serial killer I was comforting. I just did it. And we sat like that for a few minutes, not moving, not talking... just sat.

Later though, when I left, it actually hit me.

_Oh my god, I just hugged a murderer!_

* * *

**-Which isn't something you do daily!**

**Now, Beyond... was he a surprise? The way he is? At first, I thought; Well, there comes second-L! But then I started thinking about how that may be annoying and boring, so I decided to change him a bit!**

**Okay, next chapter is up, too!**

**Thank you for reading, like always~!**


	13. Surprise!

**This chapter will be my failed attempt at writing something that's supposed to be funny... at least a little bit.**

**Oh well, I hoope you enjoy it, anyway!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

As I came downstairs, where the rest of the Task Force was still working, I noticed -to my relief- that it had been Matsuda who had surveilance-duty now. He wouldn't complain about how stupid it was, how dangerous that had been. He probably _would_ comment, though, but I would've done the same, everyone would. I mean, hugging a serial killer isn't a very normal thing, is it? You don't do such things every day. Hell, most people _never_ do so in their _entire life_. Then again, could this be considered part of my life, or a complete _new_ life, another one, in some other dimension? ... Damnit, I shouldn't ask myself questions like that anymore, they only give me a headache!

I finally decided to bring my attention to my surroundings and the people I worked with instead of my own, weird mind, and saw I had done so just in time to hear a few words that I had liked very much in the anime; L was reading the Kira-message they were going to broadcast tonight.

'Hmm...yes, good. Very good, in fact.' He mumbled. 'However, if we don't scrap the part that says; "you're free to kill L"...' He lowered the sheet of paper and looked at Light. '..I'll die.'

Light began to laugh, and I went along with him. I had always liked this small part of the scene, it was practically one of my favorites.

'Sorry, maybe I got a bit too much into my role, huh?' Light said, still chuchling a little. 'I just thought Kira would probably say that. You can scrap it if you want.'

Still giggling, I went to sit on another couch, with the rest of the Task Force, and continue to investigate Misa... Second-Kira, actually, but they were the same person, anyway.

'Oh, hey, Iris!' Came Matsuda's voice from behind me. _Oh, good... there we go._ I thought sarcastically, and Matsuda went on. 'You know, back there, with Rue... that was really cute!'

'Please shut up about it, Matsuda-san.' I muttered back.

'Rue and cute? Those two words don't go together in a sentence unless you place "isn't" in between them.' L said as he, too, came to this side of the room. Oh, Kami-sama, why me? 'Please explain to me, Matsuda, what you call "cute" about Rue, because I can't imagine such a thing is possible.'

_Don't, Matsuda! Don't!_

'Well, they were talking a bit and all, and then Iris called him a human, which made Rue get pretty emotional.'

'Yes, that doesn't surprise me; he's been refered to as "that freak" or "the monster" for two years, after all. But what is cute about that? I'd call it rather sad, actually.'

'Ah, but you gave me no chance to say that! Well, you see, apparently she didn't like him being sad and all, so Iris went and- gah!'

I had slapped Matsuda on the shoulder before he could finish the sentence that would mean my doom. Okay, maybe "doom" is a bit overreactive, but it would embarras me to hell.

'Dammit, Iris! What was that for?' Matsuda complained, rubbing his now-sore shoulder. Karate teaches you to punch hard at all times, and I made him feel that fact, too! Him, and all the others who deserved being hit by me for whatever reason yet to come. 'I was just gonna say that you gave him a hug! There's nothing wrong with that, is there?'

Aaarrrrggghh! He still did it, the moron! 'Natuurlijk is daar wat mis mee, jij malloot!' I screamed at him, not even bothering to speak English. (Translation; Ofcourse there is, you frickin' idiot!)

He, and the rest of the Task Force, stared at me wide-eyed with shock. L, however, remained his calm self like always, and so did Watari, who only looked up from his work at my outburst of rage toward the greatest moron on the team.

'S-sorry, what?' Matsuda stammered. 'I-I don't speak... whatever language that was...'

'Nederlands! Nederlands, jij domme idioot! En hou voortaan je lelijke kop, of _ik_ word hier nog de moordenaar!' (Dutch! Dutch, you brainless idiot! And you better keep that blasted mouth of yours shut from now on, or _I'll_ become the killer in here!)

'Iris,' Came the calm, monotone voice of L. 'Rustig, oke? We willen geen gewonden of doden hier, begrepen? Gewoon kalm aan doen.' (Easy, alright? We don't want any injuries or deaths in here, got it? Just stay calm.)

My head snapped over to the detective's direction, my eye twitching slightly. 'Jij... spreekt Nederlands? Sinds wanneer kan jij _Nederlands_?!' (You speak Dutch? Since when do you speak _Dutch_?!)

He nodded. 'Sinds een jaar of vijf. Ik kan tientallen talen, helemaal foutloos en vloeiend.' (Since a year or five. I speak dozens of languages, fluid and without any mistakes.) Then his gaze traveled over the astonished Task Force, who were watching us as though we were ghosts or something. 'If you don't mind, though, I would prefer switching back to English and Japanese now.'

My shoulders relaxed, and I just gaped at L in pure surprise. I could've seen that coming, though -I knew he spoke more languages than I could imagine, but I had not even once considered_ my _native language to be one of them. Silly, I know. 'Natuu- Sure... I don't mind... Er, sorry for my, er... screaming and such...' I could practically _feel_ my face going red, and I nervously scratched myself behind the ear as I sat down again, continuing my part of the investigation. '...Sorry, Matsuda. Really.'

The young police officer was still wide-eyed (as was the rest of the Task Force), and he slowly shook his head. 'T-that's alright, Iris...' He swallowed, laughed nervously in the famous "Matsuda-way" (you know, the way he _always_ laughs when he makes a mistake.) and asked; 'What was did you say, though? J-just curious...'

My mouth twisted in a smirk. 'He told me to calm down and _not_ kill you, because I was actually threatening to do so...'

'Y-you were? Ahahah!...Heh...heh...' Oh, god, he looked scared of me now.

'N-not as if I'd ever do that!' I quickly added, smiling.

Then Mogi spoke. Yes, Mogi actually used his voice. This was the first time I ever heard him talk, apart from in the anime. 'Well, I have a question as well; what language was that? It sounded so... unusuall.'

_Japanese sounds "unusuall" to me, heheh!_ 'Dutch. I'm from Holland. And that doesn't surprise me, actually; apparently, Dutch is one of the hardest languages there is, since we have a _very_ complicated grammar!'

'Geesh, tell me about it...' L muttered. 'I spent over four years, trying to learn it. And that's when I finally knew the _basics._ Then the advanced additions came... Another two years for that. What a waste of time, seeing as I've had only fifty cases in Holland yet...'

I stared at him, mouth slightly open, my eye twitching again. L was being _very_ OOC. A lot.

Right... This day had been full of surprises. Man, was I grateful for the fact I'd have to wake up soon!

* * *

**L, stop being OOC! It's creeping me out!**

_L: ...you're the one who makes me act like that, Bluesun..._

**...Oh, right...**

_L: And that one chapter you're still planning is just-_

**Shut it! No spoilers!**

**...**

**Well, I hope you like the story so far, and thanks for reading!**


	14. On paper

**More chapters are here!**

**I hope the last one wasn't too weird, heheh! I was in the mood to write something as close to stupidity as I could. (I'm absolutely not an expert on crack-fics...)**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

'Man, that was a harsh training!' I complained as I entered my home through the backdoor. It wasn't even noon yet, and I've had ninety minutes of karate training already. Usually, the Saturday mornings weren't so hard. Tuesday evenings, however, were harsh. Isn't really surprising, though; on Tuesday, there are _seven_ people with a black belt, on Saturday only three. But today had been harder than most days.

I dropped my bag somewhere in a corner of the living room and flopped down onto the couch, beside my mother, who smiled at me. 'But did you enjoy it? Learned new things?'

'Like hell I did!' I smiled, and pulled myself up so I sat straight. My legs weren't accepting that, though. They were still very sore. 'One technique was really cool! First, you kick someone on the head or shoulder, then you turn around and kick backwards. On the last few seconds, you bend the knee of the leg you're using to kick, so you hit the head _again_. It's very effective as a battle technique to knock your opponent unconscious, but quite hard, as well.' My smile changed to a grin, and I added; 'But I did pretty well for a first time!' I hardly ever bragged about anything, but I was just like any other human; sometimes, I just _had_ to. And this was one of those times. The grin soon replaced with a rather annoyed expression, though, when my stomach growled louder than it had done in over a month. 'Oh, right; and it makes you hungry...' Sighing, I stood up and went to make myself lunch in the kitchen.

'Anything else happened lately?' My mother called to me from her spot in the living room.

'What, somehting I _haven't_ told you already yesterday?' I chuckled. 'Nah, not really. Except, maybe; I've been functioning normally for several days now, only watching _one_ Death Note episode. Is that an achievement or what?'

'I guess. You haven't written about it either?'

'Nope. Not a single word.'

'Very good, Iris... Read it?'

'Absolutely nothing! Though, I did talk about it with Madeline at school, but... that's only ten minutes a day.'

I could hear my mother sigh even from here. 'Well, at least there were _some_ things you didn't do. Well done with that.'

My mouth twisted in a huge smile. 'Thanks, mom!' Then rolled my eyes. Oh, if only she knew...

Minutes later, I was sitting at a table, pencils and paper in front of me. Drawing was one of my greatest hobbies, and that was exactly what I was going to do now. So i picked up a gray pencil, laid the tip of it on the paper and...

...stopped. I had no idea what I could draw _this_ time. These things were common for me, sadly. I'd really want to write or draw something, or even animate something, get everything I'd need for it, and right when I would start, my creativity disappears like ashes in the wind.

Damnit.

Sighing, I decided to just move the pencil around a bit and see what I'd make of it. Within seconds, I recognized the shape of a human head. One that I had seen before, but not enough to be familiar yet. When I started to add facial features, eyes, nose, mouth and such, and some more details, I reailsed where my fantasy had led me.

Beyond Birthday. Not like I usually depicted him; red-eyed-L, but as I had met him yesterday. Extremely beautiful, smiling in the nicest and politest way I had ever seen.

And that was when my face went as red as his eyes. Which just _had_ to be noticed by my mother, ofcourse.

'Iris, what's wrong?' She asked, then looked at my drawing. 'Oooh, he's hot! But why the red eyes? I think pale blue ones would've been better, personally.'

_Oh my god, Beyond with blue eyes would be so..._ I didn't allow myself to think any further than that. 'Yeah, he's quite sexy, isn't he?' I half-said, half-laughed. 'I just started to draw, and he came out of it! As for the red eyes... I don't know, just felt like it.'

'Hm, but doesn't that mean he's evil or something?' My mother brought in. 'Usually, only monsters are drawn with red eyes-'

'He's _not_ a monster, mom! Just a normal human I came up with!' Oops, maybe I sounded a bit too angry there. 'Oh, sorry, mom.' I sighed once again. I had also only just managed to add "I came up with" while keeping it sounding natural instead of forced.

_Poor Beyond. Even in a world where no one knows him -like, really knows him- he's being called a monster. Even by my mother!_ Now, I had told my mother about Beyond, ofcourse, but she had no idea that _this_ was him.

I just stopped drawing, placed the portret of Beyond on my desk in my room, and began to read a book instead. I wanted to get my mind on other things right now. Other than Beyond.

I mean, I know he's extremely hot and all, and I was pretty much a teenager and teenage girls tend to go after guys already, but _Beyond_? Beyond Birthday, the ex-serial killer, the former psycho, the guy from _another dimension_?

...

Somehow, there wasn't a "No" in my head, like I had been expecting. No negative answers from my own conscience. Just one, completely different word;

_Perhaps_...

* * *

**Oh, Iris... really now? Beyond?**

**Anyway, I hope you liked it and thanks for reading!**


	15. Demons

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

'Ryuzaki, we've got a reply from the Second-Kira.' Watari informed the young detective as he entered the room, carying a videotape. At those words, everyone looked up from their work and looked at him expectantly. We all knew he wouldn't wait for L's approval before he'd put them in the recorder and start playing the video. So everyone stood up and gathered around the large TV, waiting for S-Kira's reply.

That is, everyone but Beyond. He was allowed downstairs already, with the rest of the Task Force, but he was handcuffed to a chair (which was, in utrn, nailed to the ground so it couldn't move), disabling him of moving more than three feet away from it. Completely unnecessary, if you ask me. But no one wins an argument from L, period, so I hadn't even tried. Then again, maybe I could've used my influence, as I liked to call it lately, to _make_ him agree with me.

'Er... guys?' Beyond said nervously, pulling the chain of his handcuff. 'I, er... would appreciate it if you'd let me move freely for this one moment... One exception won't hurt, now will it? I, eh... I'm not planning on killing anyone, you know.'

No one answered. No one even looked at him, except for me. So he asked again, raising his voice a little this time. 'Guys? L, er, Ryuzaki?... Anyone? I'm part of the team as well, remember? I'm supposed to watch such things, too...'

Still no answer. Sighing, frustrated and annoyed, I made my way to stand in front of L, who had taken his position in his own chair already.

'Yes, Iris, what is the probl- whoah!' L's monotone question was cut off by a shocked exclaimation as I bent over him, quickly moving my hand to his waist. Or that's what it looked like. 'What in the world are you-? Get off of me, Iris!' He was trying hard to get me away from him, but I was a persistent pest, as well. After a few akward seconds, I had managed to stick my hand into one of his pockets, and grabbed the key of B's handcuff. Grinning, I held the key in front of his face.

'If you won't listen to him, _I_ will.' I said, ginning. The look on L's face was priceless; obviously he had no idea what I had done excatly, untill I walked over to Beyond and unchained him.

'Iris, you're probably making a mistake.' He warned, not moving from his chair.

'No, I'm not! Rue is completely harmless, he's proven that already!' I called back as I threw the keys to the detective again. Then I turned to see Beyond smiling at me again. Great Kami, his smile was like that of an angel..._ Shut up! No thinking like that, Iris! Get your attention to your damned job, alright!?_ _**Job? I'm thirteen, even though I look older in here. I'm not supposed to even **_**have**_** a job, remember? I'm doing this like some volunteer and I can let my thoughts wander whenever, and wherever I want.**_

Damnit, my mind was annoying sometimes. There was the fangirl-side, and the common-sense, and then there was just plain conscience. Very, very annoying. Beyond and I went to stand beside the others, just in time to see the video start.

It was the good old scene that I could practically dream (Well, I was doing it now, wasn't I? This was still, in some sort of twisted, realistic way, a dream, right?), so I did not pay much attention to it at all. I was just waiting for the part where Misa would talk about "The Eyes" and Shinigami. I'd love to see L's reaction in real-life, and I wondered how Beyond would react, as well. After all, he had no idea Shinigami exist, so he had no explanation for his eyes yet.

And there it was, the first part; _The Eyes_.

'The eyes? What does that mean?' Matsuda asked.

'Be quiet, we'll talk about that _after_ the video!' Aixawa spat back, whispering. Beside me, Beyond had all his muscles tensed at the mention of the Eyes. L, too, was obviously rather uncomfortable with it.

_Oh, they haven't heard the last yet, heheh!_ I laughed internally. This was going to be so funny to watch.

_"There, we can show our Shinigami to eachother to confirm our identities.."_

The Task Force went into a short discussion of "Shinigami? What the heck?", when they were interrupted by a scream from L. It was less dramatic than in the anime, though, but still very enjoyable to watch. He fell to the ground, taking down the chair with him.

'Ryuzaki! What's wrong?'

The detective scrambled halfway up, staring wide-eyed at the screen. 'Sh-Shinigami?' He said, his voice barely more than a whisper. 'Am I supposed to believe that? That Shinigami actually e-exist?'

Before Light could make his retord, like in the original story, Beyond went on:

'Sh-Shinigami... The Eyes...' He mumbled. 'Shinigami Eyes! That's what he meant with "the Eyes"! B-but...' He softly pressed his fingers to his cheekbone, just under his eye. 'But... are mine-? Is that what they are?'

'Rue, what are you talking about?' Aizawa demanded. He was never the one to wait for explanations, and this was one he obviously wanted right now.

Slowly, Beyond turned to face the Task Force. He took a nervous, deep breath, and confessed. 'I...I can see the names and lifespan of the people I see. J-just one look at their face tells me more about them than they know themselves. I see a person's _true_ name, you see. Usually, that's just the name they've been given at birth, but sometimes it's a different one.' He chuckeled softly. 'I mean, you don't actually think my victims were really called Believe, Quarter and Backyard? And my parents didn't call me Beyond, that's for sure.' He then turned to L, who was getting to his feet again. 'And your name is an odd one too, Ryuzaki.'

The detective snorted. 'Fine. So long as you don't actually _say_ my name, I don't care what you think. And just remeber that _I_ wasn't the one to choose it.' After he pulled the chair up again, he went on. 'But I do believe you're right about it, though. That S-Kira must have the same abillity as you do, if I may call it that.'

Beyond nodded, then answered sarcastically; 'Oh, 'course! It's an abillity, not a _curse_!' Then he shook his head slowly, and continued. 'So, we know he has these Eyes-'

'-_Think_ he does, Rue.' L interrupted him, to which Beyond just rolled his eyes and went on, ignoring L.

'_Think_ he has these Eyes, but besides that, what else can he be using? I have this "abillity", but I don't cause heart attacks. There must be a lot more, right?'

The Task Force dropped their relieved, amazed expressions, looking as confused and frustrated as always. Damn, just when they thought they were getting closer, Beyond just _had_ to remind them about that, didn't he? Oh well, he was right, anyway.

'Well...' Matsuda said, scratching himself behind the head nervously. 'We...we can be sure that it's some supernatural force now, right? I mean, such Eyes, causing heart attacks, manipulating victims before they die... all of that together is something that _can't_ be human, right?'

Light snorted. 'Supernatural, Matsuda-san? You believe in stuff like that? It's impossible, you know that. "The Eyes" is obviously some sort of code, as is the word "Shinigami". How Kira kills exactly, I don't know. But there must be some logical explaination for it. As for Rue's... _condition_... well, it's weird, but that too can't be _supernatural._' He let out a frustrated sigh. 'Besides, if you call Kira "supernatural", which simply means "above natural" and thus also "above humanity", you'll just encourage him in believing he's a god.'

Anger flared up inside of me. The stinking liar! 'Well, Light, I would like to hear your _logical explaination _for all of it, then. Or will you just accept that you might _have_ to believe it?' I demanded, only half surpressing a smirk.

'Well, I... It's just...' The teenager stammered. Then he shook his head angrily. 'I just said, I don't know what it is yet, but we'll find one! Alright? I don't know yet!'

I now let that smirk appear in its full smirkyness-glory. I didn't want to make him confess that he's Kira, though, or do something that gives it away. I still wanted a chance to meet Mello, Near and maybe even Matt, later. But I also wanted L to stay alive... tricky. Maybe I'd have to come up with something that makes him unable to work? But then I might have to make him get into some sort of comatose, or something else... darn, I didn't want to cripple him, mentally or physically! This would take some time to come up with.

The Task Force went on with thinking of some more theories, and I went along. When it was midnight, however, I told them I had to go.

And so, I woke up once again.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, like always~!**

**New chapters coming very soon!**


	16. Personal Bussiness

**Two new chapters ready!**

**Arigato to everyone who reviewed yesterday, made me so happy!**

**Now, I hope you'll like the next two chapters!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

The next night, I entered the building and stumbled upon a rather strange scene. Everyone was crowded in front of a collection of computer screens. Everyone but the Yagamis.

_Oh, right. They're in confinement now._

'Uh, hey, guys!' I greeted the men. 'What is going on, exactly?'

It was Beyond who answered. 'Misa Amane was arrested by us under suspicion of being the Second-Kira. Light Yagami came to the conclusion that he _might_ be Kira, but isn't aware of it when he kills. And Soichiro Yagami-san simply couldn't stand the idea of his son going through this, being locked up and all, and so he said he wanted to go through the same untill Light's name is cleared. If it'll ever be.'

I blinked at him, pretending to be confused and astonished by it all. 'O...Okay...' And so I sat down beside Matsuda and Aizawa, who had decided to take a break the moment I came in. 'And what are we going to do now? I mean, we can focus all our attention on them, but we can also keep an eye on them one at a time, and let the others work on other things. Other cases, perhaps. There is more going on in the world than Kira, you know.' I expected this idea to be tossed aside imediatly. Instead, L answered;

'You know, Iris, that might not be such a bad idea. Small cases, though. Ones that we can finish in less than a week. If we take on anything too big, we might be stuck with it even when we have to resume the Kira investigation... if Misa and Light turn out to be innocent.'

'I say we can look into the Misora-case!' Beyond stated, a serious tone but one hell of a large smile on his face.

'Misora-case? What do you mean?' Matsuda asked. The idiot.

Beyond quickly turned to stare at the police officer, a look in his eyes as though he couldn't believe _anyone_ wouldn't know what he was talking about. 'The missing person! Naomi Misora, ofcourse! You know; ex-FBI agent, engaged to one of Kira's FBI-victims, has been missing for _weeks_ now. That one!' He dashed over to the table where L's laptop lay. One of the many, that is. He picked it up, went to the couch and started it.

'Damnit, Ryuzaki! Why is this one password-protected? None of the others are!' He complained only seconds later. L's head popped up from where it lay on his knees, and his expression was, for once, readable; _Oh, no you didn't!_

'Rue, don't you-' He was cut off by a happy exclaimation from Beyond.

'Alright! Cracked it! Oh, I'm so awesome; I hacked the computer of the greatest detective ever!' He didn't get long to enjoy his "victory", though. L had practically jumped over tha back of his chair and almost tackeled Beyond. 'Don't you dare touch that thing!'

'W-what? Why not?' Beyond was surprised, even startled, but he obediently gave the laptop back to the detective without complaining, who let out a relieved sigh.

'Because, Rue, the only one that I use a password for is my personal one.'

'Personal one?'

'Yes. Personal. Private. The files on this thing... no one needs to read those. So don't you dare hack into it again, or I will alert the police in America that you are here. You'll be send right back to jail, if not executed. So just... don't.'

My eyes were not the only one to twitch at that; the whole Task Force went with me, and so did Beyond. This, obviously, was not overlooked by L, who just stared at us with the most ignorrant expression I had ever seen. 'What?'

Aizawa was the only one who dared to say what we were all thinking: 'Nothing, it's just...You? _You_ have _personal_ files? You're not... you don't look like the type for that.'

Yikes. One look at the detective's face scared me terribly. L was _not_ amused.

'And why, Aizawa-san, is that? What, am I not human? Everyone does, so why not me?' His voice was monotone, but not emotionless. Far from it, actually. There was a _very_ nasty edge to it. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna lock this thing away. I must have accidentally switched it with the ones for this case...' Without waiting for an answer, he went off to his own room. But it either took him a long time to place that computer somewhere no one would find it, or he just didn't _want_ to bother coming back for hours.

'Oh god, we're screwed.' I mumbled. 'He's planning something to get rid of us, for sure! I mean, did you guys see his face? I have never seen him angry before, but he looked _furious_ just now.'

Matsuda shrugged. 'We'll be alright; Watari won't allow him to kill us.'

Aizawa shot him a look that clearly screamed _idiot_. 'Yeah, but isn't Ryuzaki the one who gives _Watari_ orders? Damn, that guy is being ordered around by someone barely more than a child.' He stated, which made my fears only worse. Okay, L wouldn't kill us. He'd never kill anyone. But he _was_ planning something else in there, I was certain of it. Beyond's voice, however, got me out of that dark, frightening corner of my mind.

'Barely more than a child, huh? I'll let you know, he's older than Light and Iris, so he is certainly more than a child.' He smirked. The young man obviously enjoyed knowing much more about L than anyone else in here. With exception of me, though he didn't know that. 'And Matsuda was right; Watari won't allow him to harm us in any way, and L always listens to Watari. Well, almost always.'

When everyone raised an eyebrow at him, demanding more explaination, Beyond laughed briefly before giving it to them. 'He's currently... twenty-four, I guess. Maybe a year older, maybe younger, but I'm pretty certain. My memory hardly ever fails me. As for the thing about Watari; the guy's practically Ryuzaki's father. Adopted, you see. Ryuzaki may be the one to give orders during cases, he always listens to Watari. No reason to fear for your well-being at all!' He finished with a large grin. 'But you didn't hear this from me, got it?'

Everyone was staring at him, clearly thinking something like; _Heck, that's... how does he know such things? My god..._

Then there was this long silence. So darned long, it was making my skin crawl eventually. I shook my head, stood up and slowly walked to the door of L's room, to eavesdrop, see if I could find out what he was planning in there.

It was silent, though. So I took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

Imediatly, my heart practically melted. A sleeping L was such a cute sight. He must've been awake for days in a row again, because it looked like he had simply _collapsed _on the bed instead of normally _lying down_ in it.

Smiling, I closed the door again and went back to the others.

'Guys, I have just confirmed our safety!'

* * *

**Sorry, that was... weird, wasn't it? Well, it's just some sort of build-up for the next chapter, anyway!**

**Remember when L almost spoiled this chapter I'm talking about?**

_**"And that one chapter you're still planning..."**_** Well, time to find out what he meant, non?**

**Hehehe! Thanks for reading, like always!**


	17. Breaking Bottles

**And here it is; Chapter 17, _Breaking Bottles_~!**

**I very much enjoyed writing this chapter just now, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any orther fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Days later, on Tuesday night, it has been a week since Misa, Light and Soichiro were confined. There was no progress on the Kira-case, and much to Beyond's dismay, nothing new on the Misora-case, either.

'Maybe we should just give up on her.' Aizawa sighed, dropping a whole package of files on a table. 'She's been missing for weeks now, and there hasn't been even _one_ clue about where she is. _If _she is even still alive, that is.'

'She _is_ still alive, Aizawa-san!' Beyond yelled back. To my, and everyone's surprise, his loud voice was accompanied by the softer, calmer one of L. Five faces jerked over to the detective's direction. He was still watching the "prisoners" with the surveillance cameras, but was obviously aware of everyone staring at him, because he went on;

'Misora-san was an excellent FBI-agent, and a very strong-willed woman. Even if she is dead, she has been killed, and it wasn't suicide. She would never kill herself just because of a loss, no matter how big that loss is. And I cannot think of anyone who'd want to kill Misora-san, with the exception of Rue and maybe Kira.'

'Hey! I do _not_ want miss Misora to die, especially not at _my _hand!' Beyond spat at him, but L just kept talking, ignoring the younger man.

'Ofcourse, there is a possibility that Kira was indeed after Misora-san, and has got to her already. But if he found her, there is no way he could've killed her.'

'How? Kira can kill anyone, so long as he knows their name-' Aizawa said.

'Because there is no way Kira knows her name. The one that is on her drivers-liscense, her ID, everything, is not her real name. Not anymore. By the time she went missing, her ID was not yet updated. That was to happen within a week after that. So, unless the original-Kira _does_ have the Eyes, which he obviously doesn't, it is quite impossible that Misora-san is dead.'

Everyone was silent, except for my inner-me. _Ahaha! It worked, it worked! Naomi is alive! ...unless Ryuzaki is wrong, but there's only a 12.7 percent chance that he is. He's __**L**__, darn it, he's never wrong!_ Oh damn, I had just thought in percentages... _So Naomi is alive and well, and it's only a matter of time before she comes here! Yay~!_

'But, if miss Misora is still alive... why is she hiding from, well, everyone? Does she have any reason to?' Beyond wondered out loud.

'She may be investigating the Kira-case, Rue. If she is, it is best to stay away from society or opperate in a group. The chance that one meets Kira while simply strolling through a city is small, but present.'

'Then why doesn't miss Misora join us? She can go to the police, and they could direct her to Yagami-san, or... well, Aizawa-san or Mogi-san for now... and they could bring her here! It's not that hard at all! _I_ found you, all on my own! _She_ can do so, too!' Oh, good. He was yelling again. I had began to realise that not all of the psycho he once was had dissappeared. Make Beyond angry, and you can expect to be punched a few times, at the least.

'There are people who prefer to work solo, instead of in a group. To be honest, I'd prefer to do so, too, but I just can't catch Kira without the help of others right now. She will be seen eventually, don't worry. But chances are that she won't come here unless it is really necessary.' Great Kami, sometimes L's monotonous talk was so annoying. But that was far from the worst right now.

Beyond snapped.

'Will you just shut the _fuck_ up with all that fact-stating?! It's annoying the crap out of me, and I'm not the only one who thinks so, just the only one with the _damned_ guts to say it! And _that voice_! You know, I really got the urge to strangle you just now, _without_ drugging you first! Yeah, let the fucking _emotionless panda_ feel some pain before he freaking dies! Now that'd be fun! Kyahahaha!'

_Oh god, not the maniacal laughter, please!_ Though this was going to be very interesting. L had frozen in his chair, muscles tensed. Another L-is-not-amused moment. Slowly, the detective got to his feet and stood in front of Beyond.

'Beyond Birthday, I would very much appreciate it if you'd stop shouting.' Still monotone, but again with an edge to his voice. Oh, this was gonna be good...

'Stop shouting? Fine! But only if _you_ stop being a frickin' _asshole_ all the time!' The ex-criminal had only raised his voice even more. 'Stop being a monotone, emotionless-'

'What makes you think I have no feelings, Rue?' L interrupted him, narrowing his eyes. God, he was pissed.

'Every. Fucking. Thing!' Beyond screamed back. 'The way you act, the way you talk, even the way you look! You killed A, you made me... _me_... and you chased C and D to their deaths! You said so yourself, yet you show _no_ regret or remorse whatsoever! A normal human being doesn't live like that!'

'Did _you_ regret the murders you have committed, then?'

Beyond's eye twitched, and for a heartbeat, he looked as if he flinched. But then he just went back to his screaming-self. 'Back then, I did not, alright? But I do now! I regret every single move I made during that case! Because I, unlike _you_, are _human!_'

Only a second had passed before Beyond crashed down against a wall, blood trickling out of his nose. 'Fuck! What the heck was that for?!'

'As if you don't know!' Now, L had raised his voice as well, though it could not yet be quallified as "yelling". 'Don't you act as if you have _no idea_ what you just said, Beyond!' He was now standing in front of the scarlet-eyed man again, his fist raised as though he would strike again within seconds.

Quickly, Matsuda stood up, holding a half-empty wine bottle in his hand. It was a left-over from last night, when he, Mogi and Aizawa had decided to get themselves some alchohol to get rid of stress for one evening. 'Hey, guys, calm down, okay?' He said, his voice unsteady and stammering. 'Just have a drink and forget about this, okay?'

Both men stared at him, and to my astonishment, L actually took the bottle from Matsuda. But before I could be relieved, he had raised it above his head, looking as if he'd throw it on Beyond. A second before his arm lashed out and he threw it, however, he had turned around, smashing it against a wall instead. Glass and wine flew through the room, creating a rather beautiful sight, though only for two seconds. Then came the screaming;

'I'm fucking _sick_ of this!' L had his shoulders drawn up, hands clenched into fists and eyes shut tight. Pure rage showed in every line of his body. 'No matter what everyone may think, I'm _not_ a _machine!_ Do you have any idea what it's like to be considered something else than human?!' This question was directed to everyone, not just Beyond. Otherwise, the answer would've been obvious.

'Ofcourse I do!' The rage was no longer audible in Beyond's voice. Instead, he sounded frightened. 'I've been called a monster for _years_, remember?'

'That's not the same!' L spat back, his voice like venom. 'At least a monster is still a living being! A living, thinking, feeling being! Everyone thinks I'm like a _machine_, a _computer!_ I'm not! I'm just a human! I _do _have feelings, I _do _get tired occassionally, there _are _things I'd like to do besides working, but I _can't!_ Every time I want to take some time off for myself, the whole government goes crazy! "Hey, where's L? Don't tell me he wants a vacation, we have like, thirty-five..._thousand_ cases he needs to solve!"... and why are you all staring at me like that!?'

This caused the whole team to flinch. 'We're just... stunned, Ryuzaki...'

'_Why?!'_

Mogi gulped nervously. 'You always... always keep your emotions all bottled-up and such, so-'

'Oh really now?! Well, as I've just _demonstrated,_' He pointed at the shards of glass lying all over the floor. '_Bottles can break!_ Have you even listened to what I just said? I'm _just a human,_ got it?!'

Just then, the sound of hope could be heard on the background, almost overpowered by the detective's voice. The sound of Watari coming back from... whatever he had been doing.

'Ryuzaki? What's going on?' The old man asked, keeping calm as ever, though there was concern hidden under a thick layer of it.

If looks could kill, Watari'd have dropped dead right that instant. L's eyes were blazing with fire, his teeth bared in a pretty much beast-like snarl. 'Oh, good! He's here too! _Now_ it's gonna be fun!' He couldn't have been more sarcastic.

The old man took a step towards him, blinking slowly. 'Ryuzaki...L... calm down, okay? Just calm down...' The detective did not answer, but only closed his eyes again, his body beginning to tremble with the force of his still-tensed muscles. Then Watari did something completely unexpected; with a surprisingly high speed, considering his age, he went to stand in front of L, quickly shot two finger to the side of L's neck and pressed down hard. Pressure points. The younger man went rigid, his eyes shooting open with shock before slowly closing again as he fell into Watari's arms, unconscious.

I couldn't help but be stunned by this. 'Wa-Watari...!' I gasped.

Now carrying an unconscious-L, the old man turned to me and smiled. 'It was just necessary, Iris. Sometimes it is...' Then he turned around again and brought L to his room, and when he got out, locked it from the outside. When he came back into the investigation-room, he finally took some time to look around, a smile again appearing on his wrinkled features. 'Ah, I see... as you can understand, next time L gets angry about anything, don't let him get near throwable things, especially those that are made of glass.'

'W-we've seen that, Watari-san...' Matsuda stammered, his eyes still wide as an owl's. Just like the rest of us.

'Good. Now, Rue, I hope you're alright?'

As if just awoken from a deep sleep, Beyond's head jerked up to face the old man; he was still on the floor. 'Y-yeah, I am...' Then he got to his feet again and rubbed the now-dried blood away from under his nose. 'I-I thought he might have broken it for a moment, but everything's okay...'

Hesitatingly, I asked Watari; 'Um, Watari-san... can I, maybe, have the key to L's room for a moment? I'm sure he's... not "dangerous" now, right?'

Confused, the old man blinked at me, then smiled. '...Ofcourse, Iris. I don't see why not.'

I nervously accepted the keys and slowly went into L's room. He was on his bed again, seemingly out like a light. I couldn't help but let a minor smile appear on my face. Softly as to not disturb him now that he finally looked so calm and peaceful again, I sat down beside him, and carefully ran my fingers through his raven-hair.

'I'm so sorry for how we all acted, L... We should've known better. I'm sorry...'

* * *

**Daawww... I've had this idea for weeks now, and I'm glad I finally wrote a story in which I can upload it! I think this could very well have happened in the anime or manga, if only L was called "inhuman" a little more.**

**Well, that's what you get when your emotions are all bottled-up; the bottle will break, and you'll snap. So, the lesson is: Don't be an emotionless panda or you'll end up like L~!**

**Kyahahaha! Psycho laughter time!**

**...**

**Sorry for that; I've been awake pretty much the whole night, my mind is functioning normally anymore XD...**

**Anyway, next chapters will (hopefully) be up tomorrow, like usuall!**


	18. Confession

**Everyone, thanks for the reviews!**

**It's been a week since I first uploaded this story, so I'll "celebrate" it by uploading three new chapters instead of two.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Another week later (in the real world), it had been almost two months since the confinement of Misa, Light and Soichiro, and I knew the time of Light's mock-execution was almost here. Murders had temporarily stopped, as everyone knew, but as of lately, they had started again. Now, L had to admit that he may well have been wrong about Light being Kira and Misa being S-Kira. Oh, if only he knew.

I was walking through the city right now, heading for HQ after another busy day of school. It was getting harder to keep up with my schoolwork as well as the rest of my life and my other life here. Thank goodness christmas-break was only twelve days away now. Then, at least, i could spent some more time here without heving to worry about my degrading grades... _heheh, degrading grades... that sounds stupid._

Then something caught my attention. Someone, actually.

A young girl was strolling through the city, looking at displays in a clothing store. She had rosy-blond, somewhat ginger, braided hair. As I walked past her, I couldn't help but notice her smile and twinkling greenish-brown eyes. She reminded me of someone... a lot.

But there was no time to chat. I had to get to HQ right away, if I wanted to be in time for work. Oh well, I was late, anyway, but I think you get what I mean. L had said that we could come and go as we like, so long as we contribute to the investigation enough, but I knew he didn't like me being away for two days in a row, then working for barely one day and being gone again after that.

But hey, I could hardly skip school just to stay in my bed, even if it was to work on the world's greatest murder case, together with the greatest detective ever, in Japan, in some other dimension, right?

When I got there, however, I was imediatly sent to some other room by L, who was having an important conversation with Yagami-san.

Okay, had I just said "the mock-execution is almost here"? Scrap that. It was beginning already. Where I had to go now, I was greeted by the rest of the Task Force and Beyond, who stared at me with narrowed, scarlet eyes, severe frustration no longer hidden in them. He had looked at me like that for days now, and then I'm talking about the _real_ days. Which meant _weeks_ in this world.

Finally gathering the bravery to confront him about it, I demanded; 'Rue, what the heck are you staring at me for? That look is creeping me out, you know.' Maybe I had been a little too rude, maybe not. I didn't care, so long as he got the message.

Suddenly, I felt his hands grab my shoulders and pull me somewhere. Taken by surprise, I did not struggle, and just went along with him. He took me to some corner of the room where the Task Force couldn't hear us, before he gave me a surprising answer.

'Because, miss No-Name, you are like a mystery to me, a puzzle I can't seem to solve. It's... frustrating.'

I backed away a little, startled by the intensity of his red eyes. 'Wh-what do you mean, a mystery? And why did you call me "No-Name"? I'm just Iris!'

He let out an impatient sigh. 'Oh, I could've known you'd need an explaination! Fine; you remember how I told everyone I have Shinigami Eyes? How I can see a name and a lifespan?'

I nodded slowly, already suspecting where this was going. Despite having known what he'd say, I was still surprised when he did.

'I can't see yours. Not a lifespan, though that happens more often, even if it's rare... but no name...? I have _always_ seen a person's name, even if their lifespan was a mystery to me. I can even see my own name, if I look in the mirror! I can see the names of unborn children, when their parents have decided one for them. I can see... _every_ name. But not yours. Which makes me wonder... who are you? Or rather; _what_ are you?' He stared me straight in the eyes, scarlet locking with grey-blue, and like I have already said, the intensity of his gaze made my skin crawl.

But I could understand his frustration. If _I_ had seen names floating through the air my whole life, this'd creep me out, as well. I took a deep breath, looked to the left, checking if the Task Force was occupied enough not to pay attention to us. They were, so I turned to Beyond.

'Okay. I'll... I'll tell you. Sit down, it's... long, comlicated and... you might not believe me. At all.'

Without answering, he just nodded and did as I said. I sat down on the floor, too, leaning with my back against a wall.

'I'll start with the believable things; yes, I _am_ Iris den Weerden, from Holland. However, I am _not_ nineteen, or a student. I'm actually a thirteen year old, Junior High pupil, caught in some sort of dream world.'

'What in the world are you-?'

I interrupted him before he could finish his question. 'Believe it or not, you and all the others here, are only fictional characters in my reality. This whole world is fiction, made up by a Japanese person. It's a manga series, which later became animated, famous around the world and dubbed in countless of languages. Even about you, and the LABB murders, there has been a whole novel written, called _Another Note; LABB Murder Case_.'

He stared at me in disbelief, slowly shaking his head. 'You're insane, aren't you? You... you actually think this world is a dream of yours, and you belong somewhere else? I think _you _should spend some time in the asylum, you know...'

I looked up, at his face, and felt relief flood through me. He _did_ believe me, he was just in denial. His face told me that much. Then came a question, more a demand, of which I wasn't sure how to answer.

'Prove it.'

I quickly thought, searching for things that I could _not_ know, should I be lying.

'After you killed Backyard Bottomslash, you took her cut-off arm with you. What you exactly did with it, I don't know. That wasn't said in the novel. You used to practice an "evil" laugh to yourself a lot, and your _real_ laugh resembles that of a Shinigami. Though you probably wouldn't know that... Also, you were supposed to be killed by Kira at the start of this year, but I saved you. How I did it, I'm not sure, but I can control this world as though it really _is _a dream. But I know it isn't.'

He blinked at me, the denial slowly dissappearing from his gaze. 'Anything else? I'm not convinced yet!'

_Yes, you are. But that doesn't matter._ 'You were raised in Winchester, England, in Wammy's House for Gifted Children. You met your best friend, A, there, but he committed suicide because he couldn't handle the pressure of being L's successor. About L, by the way; his real name is L Lawliet. Watari's is Quillish Wammy. They, too, are supposed to die soon, but I want to save them as well. Or at least L. The man who's in charge of Wammy's now is named Roger Ruvie, and L's number one successor is Near, whose real name is Nate River. Second is Mello, Miheal Keehl. Then is Matt, who is Mail Jeevas. There is also this girl who will become a famous artist, Linda, and-'

'Okay! Okay, I've heard enough!' Beyond interrupted me. 'You're creeping me out, so shut up! I believe you, alright?' He smiled at me, making my skin grow warm with joy. 'I don't mind not seeing your name, anyway; you do not only _tell_ me I'm human, you make me _feel_ human... so, thanks for that.'

Those words made me so damn happy, I practically tackeled him without thinking, holding him in a tight hug. 'Thank you! I'm glad we're friends, Rue!' I half-squealed.

'F-friends?' Beyond sounded as if he had no idea how to answer. 'Y-yes, I... I gues we are, right?'

'Absolutely!'

This made him laugh. 'Okay, now I _definitely_ believe that you're actually a child!' Then he finally wrapped his arms around me as well, returning my hug. 'But I'm glad too. I... You're my first friend since A, Iris. I'm really glad...'

We stayed like that for a rather long time. Longer than normal, that is. But I enjoyed every second that I felt his warmth against me.

And what made me happiest of all, is that I could finally confess the truth to someone, other than Madeline.

Suddenly, realisation hit me like a bullet, making my body go rigid. I could vaguely hear Beyond's voice, saying my name, asking what was wrong. But nothing was louder than the voice of my conscience, which was practically screaming at me;

_That girl I saw today... that was Madeline!_

* * *

**I have finally decided what Madeline's role will be~!**

**Thank you for reading, and I hope you liked this chapter!**


	19. Madeline

**Hooray for Madeline~! She's _finally_ gonna become the important character I wanted her to be.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

'Don't forget, next lesson is a test about the Simple Past and verbs, everyone! Now get your stuff and off to the next lesson, alright?' My English teacher said as the bell rang.

_Simple Past, Present Simple, verbs... I know all of that already, damnit!_ I thought as I quickly stuffed my books into my bag, almost forgetting my pens, and rushing to Math. This was the last lesson I had before lunchbreak, the last one before I'd see Madeline again. I just _had _to ask her about wether she dreamed she was in Japan or not, because it was either _her_ I had seen last night, or some very good lookalike.

The time seemed to crawl by, every second a second too long. I had such a hard time concentrating on my work, but I got it all done in time anyway. I slowly moved my gaze to the clock. Ten minutes, or maybe it were eleven? Everything was fine, so long as they went by quickly. Ofcourse, they did not. In the last few minutes, I had a severe headache from it all. Every sound was a sound too much, every second like an eternity. Anxiety was almost literally eating away at me when-

'Alright! Lunchbreak! After that, just two more hours and we're _free!_' My classmates exclaimed, making me slap my hands over my ears and cursing inwardly. But I could not deny that I was just as happy as they were.

I quickly went to the "herd's" usuall spot, waiting for Madeline. Like always, she was rather late. She had only just said hi to everyone, and I gave her no chance of eating her lunch first. I boldly pulled her along with me, out of earshot from the rest of the girls.

'Damnit, Iris, what's wrong with you today?!' She complained, rubbing a shoulder. Apparently, I had been a little _too _rough. 'You know I am allowed to punch you now, right?'

I sighed, again cursing inside. 'Yes. And do it quickly; this is important.' Her fist landed hard on my shoulder, and I winced.

'Well, what's so important?'

'Last night, I saw a girl that looked _exactly like you_, staring at store-displays, while I was heading for HQ. Just _what _did you dream last night?'

She was gaping at me. 'I...I was shopping for a new winter-outfit... in Japan, which was strange... and it was only the end of the summer or something, which was also strange.' She shook her head. 'While I was looking at one _really cool_ outfit, I thought I saw the reflection of a woman walking past me in the window. She... was that you?'

I blushed slightly. 'W-woman? Puh-lease, I'm only nineteen in that world!'

'Oh.'

'But yes, I... I do believe we met eachother. Somewhat. Which means...'

'...I'm in the Death Note world as well...'

We both ended with a "Oh. My. Kami-sama!", at exactly the same time. Normally, we would've practically cracked up laughing because of it, but now...

No. That couldn't be, right? How come Madeline was there as well? And why only now, and not earlier?

That was the same as trying to answer the question "What the heck am I in the Death Note universe for?", which was impossible, so I didn't try to. Instead, i tried to think of what to do now. She was there from now on, so why wouldn't I try to make L accept her to the team, as well? I knew he preffered wokring on his own, as he had said, but not even a loner like him could deny that every person willing to help should be able to do so.

'Well, Madeline, I'm going to ask L if you can join the investigation tonight, alright?'

Madeline gave no imediate answer. She was staring at the ground, stuck in some sort of "Oh heck no" moment. After a moment of silence, there was a soft 'Okay...' that escaped her lips, but after that, she did not utter a single word for the rest of the lunchbreak.

Despite being thrilled by this discovery, I couldn't help but also worry. What changes would _this_ bring?

Only time could tell. I just hoped it's be nothing bad...

* * *

**I know, short chapter... Gomenasai!**

**Oh well, there's a third today, anyway...**

**Thanks for reading!**


	20. Fists and Visits

**Third and last chapter for today!**

**To Athenafreak; I hope you'll like the end of this chapter, seeing as you have mentioned it several times in your reviews!**

**Now, this chapter may contain a larger amount of mistakes than usuall, sorry for that. My mind was practically on hold when I wrote this, I hadn't slept for almost a day. Man, I felt like some sort of insomniac, like L! XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

We had just moved to a new HQ. _The_ new HeadQuarters, to be exact. The one in which the Yotsuba-arc takes place. It was huge, intimidating, and the securitysystem was just plain annoying. I now completely understood Aizawa at the start of episode eighteen; friend.

Thinking about that, I realised the events in that epsiode were going to happen soon, if not this night.

To my joy, it was the latter. The moment I entered the main room, I saw Matsuda, Aizawa, Soichiro and Beyond watching the three having a "date" in Misa's room.

L, Light and Misa, the first two already handcuffed together, Misa complaining about how L was a "pervert."

_'More importantly,' _Light said. _'We finally moved to a place where we can stay permanently for this case, and have everything we might need to solve it eventually, but you don't seem to have any motivation at all, Ryuzaki.'_

_'No motivation? _L repeated, his voice distant-sounding. _'You're right. In fact, I'm actually depressed...'_

_'Depressed? Why?'_

_'I think it's just because I have been so convinced that you were Kira, and Misa was the Second-Kira, I think it's just a shock to me that my deductions were wrong. I... truthfully, I focused the whole investigation on you, and now it turns out that I was wrong, and we have to start all over again... I think we're trying too hard. If we take a step back for now, it'll probably be the safest way to continue the investigation later on. If we act now... we're just throwing our lives away for nothing. Actually, I believe we're doing so already... this whole investigation is a complete waste of time...'_

Light stood up, one hand folded into a fist. _'Ryuzaki...'_

Now, L looked up at him, a confused expression on his face. Light's arm lashed out amazingly fast, hitting L on his jaw. By the impact of it, the detective was sent flying backwards, and if I saw correctly, head-first against a wall.

_Hell no... that can't be, right? He'll get up within a second, and then he and Light will start fighting._ Luckily, that hadn't changed from how it went in the anime. After some more arguing, the two were fighting eachother full-force, nothing held back.

_And now I want to see who wins it! Matsuda won't stop them, no one will!_

And so Matsuda called to the room, but as I had decided, no one answered it. The two just kept on throwing kicks and punches in a whirlwind of fists, feet, and a metal chain. After barely half a minute, though, I fully regretted it.

Apparently -and surprisingly, seeing how L knew Capoeira- Light won. He had managed to get L face-down on the ground, with the chain somehow tangled around his neck. Quickly, the teenager crashed down onto the detective's back with his knees, unabling L of movement, and began pulling the chain. After only a few seconds, L's pale skin began getting a blueish tint.

'Fuck, Light's gonna kill him!' Beyond and Matsuda exclaimed at the same time, both rushing upstairs. Only about twenty seconds later, they were visible on the surveillance cameras as well, pulling Light off of L, and keeping the two from attacking eachother again.

L coughed, his breath coming in gasps, as he began to smirk at Light. _'You know, that actually raised th chance of you being Kira again. It two percent now...'_

When Light looked to be ready to jump on the detective again, he quickly backed away. _'I was joking, Light-kun. Honestly.'_

Now, the four men -and Misa- came downstairs again. The moment he was off the stairs, Light got a scolding from his father. 'What in the world were you thinking, trying to strangle him like that? Are you out of your mind?!' Then he looked at L, who was moving towards his chair again, obviously not wanting to, but ready to work again. 'Both of you! You could've killed eachother, you know!'

'I know, Yagami-san. Let's just forget about this incident and get ba-' L stopped mid-sentence, his eyes widening as he looked at the screens, which were displaying several rooms again, instead of just one. 'You've got to be kidding me...'

I stared at him, wondering what was wrong. If L was acting OOC, something just _had_ to be wrong.

He quickly pressed a few buttons, typed a few short things, and then he turned to stare at the closed door of the elevator.

'Ryuzaki? What's wrong? What are you doing?' he was asked several times, but there was no answer. Then, the metal doors opened and revealed something that made my heart flutter with joy.

'Thanks for letting me in, L-san.' A woman said as she bowed her head slightly for the detective.

The Task Force suddenly seemed to have transformed into a choir, making music only by gasping in shock.

L was just as shocked. blinking at the woman, but then shook his head and erased all surprise from his expression.

'Why _wouldn't_ I allow you in, Misora-san?'

* * *

**Yup! Naomi Misora has entered the building, haha!**

**Okay, last chapter for today!**

**(Warning for the upcoming chapters; Everything that I write the coming days might be, er, "depressing"... that is probably because I won't be in a very good mood. Personal, but let's just say that, today, I will pay someone a last visit. Last visit _ever_. Yeah...)**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you liked the chapter!**


	21. The best cure for pain is

**Only one chapter today, sorry!**

**Anyway; yes, I'm okay after yesterday! I had expected it to be... well, depressing, but it wasn't!**

**So my chapters will stay normal, too. (Well, as normal as they'll ever be, that is)**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter (I know I did! *smirk*), because it's the only one for today!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I could only just keep my mouth from dropping open.

Naomi Misora. She was here. She was _finally_ here.

When Naomi looked up, her expression became exactly what I had expected it to become; astonishment, anger, disbelief.

How could I have expected anything else, actually? After all, she was now looking at the murderer that she had "worked with", and the mystery man that had "attacked" her in the subway, two years ago. Standing side by side. Looking at her.

L's expression was emotionless, blank. Beyond's, however, was brightening up with the second. His scarlet eyes were shining, his mouth twsited in a smile so large that not even Madeline could've looked happier.

It was quite amusing to watch, actually; Naomi's and Beyond's eyes grew wider at the exact same time, exact same speed. Both their mouths dropped open at the same time. The only difference; Beyond looked as if he had just seen a jam-covered angel appear in front of him, while Naomi was plain horrified.

'M-miss Misora!' Beyond had now practically tackled the woman, hugging her so tightly I was amazed she could even breath. If she could, that is.

Instantly, Naomi froze, then began squirming and struggling to free herself. 'R-Ryuzaki!' She exclaimed. Right that moment, she had manged to dislodge his grip on her, and had lashed out with her right leg, kicking him on the side of his head. Beyond fell backwards, landed hard on his back, letting out a small gasp as he hit the ground. As he scrambled halway up, Naomi began yelling at him. 'What in the-? How come you're not in jail, or the asylum, or even _dead_?! What are doing here, for god's sake?!'

There wasn't a trace left of the relief and happiness that had just shone on the young man's face. 'I-I escaped, miss Misora... I wanted to.. wanted to help on the K-Kira-case, that's all...' As I was watching this, I bit my lip. I knew I shouldn't interfere in this, but it was hard not to.

'You?! _You_, a murderer, are helping _L_? Are you _both_ out of your mind?! Oh, sure, use a serial-killer to catch a serial-killer! After all, monsters always know where to find other monsters, right?'

Beyond flinched at those last words, fixing his gaze on the ground. The little bit I could see of his face looked miserable now. I opened my mouth, and could only just move my index finger into it and bite on that instead, before I'd have spoken. Naomi had gone too far now, even though she didn't know it herself.

'Why in the world did you even _hug_ me, Ryuzaki!' Naomi yelled. 'That was...' She shuddered for a moment.

'I was just... happy to see you, miss Misora...' Beyond mumbled, his voice hardly more than a whisper. 'I've been... worried about you...' These last words were barely audible, and Beyond slowly got to his feet again.

But despite them being spoken so quietly, Naomi hadn't missed a single sound he had made. 'You were... worried?' Her voice was no longer angry, and she was speaking with a normal volume again. 'Why?'

Beyond didn't answer imediatly. Instead, he was heading for the stairs, his head still low. As he passed Naomi, he halted for a moment. 'You were missing, miss Misora, possibly even dead. You saved my life, two years ago, and... if I had never gotten a chance to thank you for that, I...' His voice trailed off, and he quickly went upstairs, to his room. He was followed by the gazes of everyone in here, and every single one had either an astonished look, or a worried one, or a mixture of both.

Naomi blinked, then sighed quietly. 'I had no idea...' She whispered, half to herself.

I ran off as well, not saying a word to anyone. My mind was set on only one thing; Beyond. How could I leave him alone, after this? Hell, he's been looking for Naomi for probably as long as he was out of jail, and now that she's finally here... _this_ happened. The poor guy. When I arrived at the door of his room, I found that, to my relief, the door was not locked. I had half expected him to lock it, actually. Slowly, I opened it, and looked inside. Beyond had practically curled up on the couch, sitting in the same position as L always did, only less relaxed. I sighed, closed the door behind me and went to sit beside him.

'Are you okay?' I asked softly. There was no answer. But after a silence that lasted only ten seconds, he nodded slowly.

'She...she called me a _monster_...' He whispered, his voice shaking a little. 'You've never done that... do you truly, really think of me as a human, Iris?'

Once again, I wrapped my arms comfortingly around his shoulders. 'Ofcourse I do. Why would I ever think you're a monster? You're not, I swear. And besides, we're friends, right? I would never call a friend a monster, and especially not you.'

Hearing those words, I could feel him relax a bit again. 'Thank you, Iris...'

We stayed like that for a little while, untill Beyond moved away. He was looking straight in my eyes, a light shining in his own red ones that I had never seen before. 'Since we're already friends...' He said slowly, his voice still soft, but steady again. He carefully leaned closer to me now. 'Would you... mind...'

I froze as I felt his lips against my own, but relaxed again after barely more than a second. I had never kissed anyone before, and this was a perfect first one. Sure, I had no idea what a bad kiss was like and what a good one was, but Beyond was without a doubt an amazing kisser. I enjoyed every second of it, probably even more than I should. After all, he was like, twenty, which meant he was seven years older than me, at the least. Not to mention that this wasn't even reality to me. Not my own. But as he moved away again, I felt somewhat dissapointed. Why stop so soon? But his next words made that dissapointment fade in an instant.

'Would you mind if we become just a little more than that?'

This time, it was my turn to start the kiss, which was an answer on its own already. 'Like hell I won't! There's nothing I'd want more, Beyond!' I let myself slide into his arms and lay there, and began laughing. 'You pervert! You just kissed a child!'

Smiling, he soflty placed a finger on my forehead. 'Then maybe that child shouldn't make herself look like someone my age! Not to mention that she even returned it!'

I smirked. 'Hm. You're right... pervert.'

Meanwhile, in the investigation room, everyone had been watching with the surveillance cameras. I was well aware of this, but didn't care. After all, I knew there were _only_ cameras in this room, and no wiretaps. They haven't heard a thing of what I just said, which was a relief. So why would I care if they had seen everything?

Hell, I'd make sure they're going see a lot more of this!

* * *

**Could've seen that coming, right?**

**Next chapter won't be in Iris' PoV, but I think... L's, maybe? Not sure yet. That chapter will just discribe what happened in the investigation room while Beyond and Iris were... er, "gone". But I'll try to make it interesting!**

**Anyway, thanks for reading again!**


	22. Chaos L's PoV

**Hi there! Chapter 22 is up!**

**First, I want to apologize for the fact that I upload only one chapter a day, instead of two or three like I used to. Perhaps there'll be a day in which I won't update at all, sorry. But I'm rather busy lately.**

**Then, a warning about this chapter; it's in L's PoV, and trust me, no matter how calm and calculating he always acts, that _not_ how his mind works! At least not in this chapter... it's rather chaotic and I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense at all, I just wrote this to entertain myself a bit :)... and hopefully, you readers as well, heheh...**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Well, that was unexpected.

Beyond had just left, and Iris ran after him. Naomi was still shaking her head slowly, whispering things like "Damnit, Ryuzaki... I had no idea...".

Then again, maybe it _was_ something that I could've expected to happen. After all, Beyond was only just over his "woe is me, everyone thinks I'm a monster"-self-pity thing, when Naomi got him right back into it. I could only hope he wouldn't make a drama of it this time.

Everyone was still silent, gaping at the stairs. Why would they? There was nothing to be seen there. Not anymore. Okay, a Beyond who looks like he's either about to cry or kill someone, that's interesting to watch, I'll admit. An Iris who's all "Oh, no, not my poor friend!"-ish is less so already. But an empty staircase?

_Boring!_

...so what if I'm the world's greatest detective? I can think in any kind of way I want, even if it's "unlike me"...

'Well,' I said. 'Now that that's over, let's just get back to bussiness, shall we?' This imediatly got everyone's attention. The Task Force, thank goodness, got my message and went back to either the computers or a table and went back to work.

Naomi didn't.

Oh, like hell she didn't. First was Beyond, now it was _me_ who got the wave of "OMG, it's _you!_" over me. Perfect. Just perfect...

'And you! You're _that other_ Ryuzaki! The-the idiot that attacked me on the subway station, two years ago!' She was yelling once again. Hell, why did I recruit a woman with such a bad temper, on the LABB Murder Case? Oh right; because she was the best of the best... of those that were available. I mean, there were _better_ ones, ofcourse. Tons of them. But they weren't available at the time, and I could hardly walk up to Beyond, and say something like; "Hey, I know you have a plan and all, and have to kill people on the exact time you planned it or you'll fail, but would you please wait anyway, 'cause otherwise, I'll be stuck with a rather incompetent, bad-tempered woman or worse."

And now, she was yelling at me, talking about what was probably the biggest mistake I had made in over six years. What the other one was... that's private, sorry. This is already embarrassing enough...

'I didn't attack you, Misora-san. In fact, it was _you_ who attacked _me._' I could've known better than to answer. Could've? _Should've_. But, being the arrogant, childish idiot I am at times, I simply _had_ to.

'I kicked you only _after_ you attacked me, moron!' Naomi spat back. 'Besides, you said you were fine, so it doesn't even matter!'

'I _said_ I was fine. I could hardly attempt to hug you, get kicked down a flight of stairs, and then complain about how you broke two of my ribs, now could I?' ...curse my tongue. I was hoping to leave my failed attempt at giving her a hug out of this, but _no_, I just _had _to screw myself again, didn't I? 'Anyway, like I said, we should be getting back to work now. Misora-san, I would very much like to hear why you came here'

As that'd get me out of this rather... embarrassing situation. The Task Force, like always, felt they had the right to speak, which, in this case, they _hadn't_.

'You did what, Ryuzaki?'

'Sorry, but just _what _are you two talking about?'

Slowly, I turned my head to look at those... highly annoying and incompetent men, to keep it polite. 'Something that doesn't concern any of you in any way.' Surely they weren't so stupid as to miss the edge in my voice? Hopefully, they'd get the message and I'd be out of this.

Obviously, they didn't, but something else saved me instead. Thank goodness.

'Oh, wow!' Matsuda squealed. 'You _have_ to see this, guys!... and Misora-san...' He switched all the screens over to the surveillance cameras. More specifically, the cameras in Beyond's room.

Everyone fell silent, watching in surprise.

Though, it wasn't so surprisingly, actually. Those two seemed to have been close from the moment they met. Obviously, it had been only a matter of time before it came to this. But the Task Force had failed to notice that, it seems. Really, what kind of sad excuses for detectives were they? What a pain that I am stuck with them untill they either get killed, leave the investigation or we catch Kira. Mentioned in order of probablillity that it'll happen. Fifty percent that they'd die, forty that someone will leave -probably Aizawa-san first- and only a sad ten percent that we'll manage to find Kira, let alone arrest him. Wait, ten percent? Make that two. The other eight... well, that _nothing_ will happen and I'll be stuck with them for as long as I live...

Actually, seeing as I will most likely die before the end of this year, that will actually be...

Oh, forget it. Sometimes I just manage to give _myself_ a headache with all those percentages.

To make a long story simple and short; I had never been this relieved to see an ex-serial killer kiss what was probably one of the most annoying girls I have ever met.

Yes, I think that pretty much covers it.

...oh, god, no... are they...?

'Matsuda-san, I think it's best if we turn this off. Right now.' I said, actually demanded.

'Why?'

'Because, Matsuda-san, things like that are... private. Which means we are not allowed to watch. Turn them off.'

'What the hell do _you_ know about privacy?' Damn you, Aizawa. Damn you.

'Yes, didn't you order at least one camera in the bathroom when you put my family under surveilance?' Yes, I did. No shut up, Yagami-san. Just shut up.

'He did _what?!_' There was Light. How annoying he could be at times.

'You know what he made me do once?' Oh, good. Naomi has opened her mouth, and thus also hell. 'He made me destroy a laptop, just because he contacted me through it! Can you believe it? Then came my cell-phone, and after that, another _brand-new_ laptop!'

I narrowed my eyes at her, and was sure I could feel them twitch. 'How does that relate to this situation, Misora-san?'

She began stammering, so I payed no attention to her anymore and turned back to the screens. _He still hasn't...!_

'Matsuda-san, when I say turn it off, I mean it! These cameras are _not _meant to be used as something to watch such things with!'

'Things like what?'

'...things like live-sex videos. And trust me, if those two go on like that, it _will_ become one! So turn. The damn. Thing. _Off!_'

Maybe, just maybe, I'd have to sleep this night. After all, this has been a... busy day. First, a fight with Light-kun, in which he almost choked me, then Beyond being thrown back into his self-pity state, then Misora-san... and now this.

Truthfully, I don't mind if I'll get killed soon. Not at all. If a heart attack strikes, I will gladly give up and leave.

Everything is better than having to work with these _brainless donkeys._

* * *

**Okay, that was... well, I warned you, didn't I?**

**I promise, next chapter will be less crack, more normal... Although, I don't always keep promises!**

**Oh, and then, er... Beyond and Iris didn't... you know, they just... they just didn't. Alright? **

**Thanks for reading, and hopefully, next chappy will be up by tomorrow~!**


	23. Ringo

Friday afternoon. School was just over, the weekend was here. More time to spend on the investigation, on trying to figure out exactly what I could and couldn't control in that world and, dare I say it, more time for my _relationship_...

I couldn't surpress a smile so wide it made my cheeks hurt, and I could feel my face grow hot at the thought.

'Iris!'

Madeline's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and back to earth. Her eyes were shining with excitement. 'Well? Am I accepted on the team?'

It took me a little while to register her question, and then had to fight back the urge to slap myself. I completely forgot to ask! 'I...I'm sorry, I... forgot. Didn't get a chance to ask, actually...' I mumbled apolligetically.

All the excitement and happiness were imediatly washed from her face, making me want to hit myself only more. I hated it when I let my friends down. 'You... had no chance? Why not? What happened?'

I bit my lip, searching for words, an excuse. _Oh, good! So now I'm gonna lie to her as well?_ 'Well, first was that fight between L and Light, in which Light almost killed L... after that, Naomi suddenly came in.'

'Naomi Misora?'

'Yes, her. And she, Beyond... well, their reunion didn't go exactly as Beyond planned, you see. And after that, I went to Beyond, to see if he was alright. And then we...' My voice trailed off, and my face grew blazing hot once again. _Damn the whole concept of "blushing"!_

Madeline narrowed her eyes at this, but a small smirk appeared on her face. 'I see. Iris,' Her voice was cold, and I gulped and looked up to meet her eyes. They imediatly began shining again. 'You lucky, _naughty_ bitch!' She laughed.

If it were possible, there'd be smoke coming off of my face by now. 'No! No, we did not...! W-we didn't do anything like- we...just...' I shyly lowered my face again, and spoke in a voice barely more than a whisper. 'It was just a kiss...well, several...'

This made Madeline laugh only more. 'Oh, good! I was already afraid you did something _more_ than just that! Oh, that would've been _bad!_' She suddenly fell silent, her face once again blank. It was somewhat like a moodswing-thing you see only in cartoons and bad comedies, just real. 'But seriously, if you don't ask them tonight, I'm gonna write you in the Death Note!'

'_My_ Death Note.' I pointed out.

'Exactly! Now, you already have my e-mail, and I _can't_ wait 'till Monday! Got it?'

I smiled and nodded. Oh, Madeline was such a weirdo sometimes. Just like me. 'Yes, I'll tell you as soon as possible. Am I allowed to go home now, Madeline-sama? I have homework and such, you know.'

And there was the smile again. Really, those "moodswings" were sometimes a little creepy. 'Okay! See you later then, Iris!' And she bounced off again, leaving me to stare after her.

Creepy, weird, fangirl... stuck in some other dimension in her dreams... on how many more ways could we possibly be alike? Oh well, I hadn't lied when I said I had homework to attend to, so better get my bicycle and go home!

While I was on the way, I decided to go through the local park. It was almost October already, but still surprisingly warm. Though this would be one of the last good days before it'd become a real Autumn. Rain, hail, cold, sometimes even a little snow already. It was time to say good-bye to the summer, and let the rain wash over us before it'd turn into snow. And really, what better way to do that then take the long way home, through a park as nice as this one? Lots of trees, lots of water and way too close to a busy road. Ah, but that was only one thing, and could easily be overlooked.

Suddenly, something caught my eye.

A fairly young boy -maybe twelve or so- was sitting on a bench. He had his schoolbag beside him, and was holding an apple. The strange thing; he was only _holding_ it. Arm stretched out to the side, _just_ holding it. Yet, bits of it were dissappearing, as though being eaten by someone. _Something_.

_Oh no... Ryuk! How is such a thing even-?_ My head was spinning now, but I kept on going, past the boy, acting as though I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. It was almost exactly as Light had once given Ryuk an apple in the anime, while his house was filled with surveilance cameras. Only another boy, definitely not Light, and _real._ Real, and here, in Holland. In _my hometown_. A Shinigami, in my hometown. Which meant a Death Note, which meant a killer.

Unable to hold it, I let out a wail. 'Doshite, Kami-sama?!' Yeah, I had learned some Japanese in my dreams. Though I still didn't know if what I said was really what I meant to say. Oh well...

Then, I heard a voice behind me. That of a young boy. _The_ young boy. I froze, then turned around. He was trying to speak to me, only he spoke Japanese. Panicking, I shook my head. 'No! Er... "iyeah?". Uhm, Nederlands? English?'

The boy fell silent, and nodded, saying; 'Engurish.'

Good. So he knew some English, at least, even though he didn't pronounce it right. Well, neither did I, so that was alright.

'You asked Kami-sama why..? Why what?'

I shook my head once again. 'Sorry, that's personal.'

The boy nodded, making a soundless "Oh". 'Well, I just thought you knew Japanese, because of that... but you do not?'

Nervous, I forced myself to smile. 'No. Just a few words, actually. Why? Are you Japanese?'

The boy nodded. 'I... just came here.'

I held back the urge to narrow my eyes at that. _Just came here? From where; Japan, or the Death Note dimension?_ 'Ah, so you go to school there now?' I asked, nodding to my school. This park was just behind it.

There was a small pause before the kid answered. 'Yes. Though it is still hard for me there; I'm not very good at English, and no one speaks Japanese.'

I hopped back on my bicycle, ready to leave. 'It'll get easier for you, you'll see. I have to go now, but it was nice to have met you!' And quickly went away from there. If it really was Ryuk who was with the kid, I was in a lot of trouble now. After all, he had seen me before, even if I have never laid an eye on him yet. And Ryuk may not be very smart, he isn't so stupid as to not recognize me here.

Ryuk or not, it was a Shinigami, I was certain of that. And that could only mean trouble.

_Have they found their way into my world now...?_


	24. Seeing Demons

**Hurr-durr, I don't know what to write here~!**

**Oh, right! In the last chapter, Iris met that strange boy, right? Well, she's about to find out who it is!**

**This character is canon, and if you don't know who it is, just look him up on the net! I didn't create him!**

**Well, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

**disclaimer; I do note own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I was home, and had just turned on my laptop. The boy I had met earlier today _had_ to be from the Death Note dimension. Who he was, I had yet to find out. But I was determined to do so before night fell. And what better way to do so than by looking on the Death Note Wiki?

Okay, search in the list of characters, and then I'll find him! I closed my eyes and hummed happilly. Ah, sometimes I could be so clever~!

But he was still harder to find than I had hoped, ofcourse. First I searched in the list of characters, but I couldn't find anyone that looked like the boy. After half an hour, I decided not to look there, but go through all the chapters. I knew the whole manga series, so I probably wouldn't find anything. But that was when something caught my eye.

_Pilot Chapter._

Strange. I thought the first chapter was called "Boredom"? Well, let's click on it, then!

It was, to my surprise, not part of the original Death Note series at all. But on the cover of it, I did see a picture of Ryuk. And below Ryuk...

_Him._ The boy. Black hair that almost reached his shoulders, the same face, only in manga. It took me only a few seconds to find his name, as well.

Taro Kagami.

Apparently, he had found a Death Note that Ryuk had dropped, and thought it was a normal diary, for he did not know the English word for "death", but only "note". He had killed two bullies in his school as he had written their names in his "diary". He regretted doing so, though. It scared him. So he...

..._brought them back to life._ How is that possible? There was something about a Death Eraser on here, as well. So is that what Taro used to revive those kids? And if it was, did it exist in the Death Note world I knew, or only in some other universe?

I stared at the screen intently, reading everything I could find about Taro and the Death Eraser. Why was the boy here suddenly? And did he come from the same universe as I went to? If he did, I was in trouble. If there was another Death Note universe, then maybe there were two Ryuks, and this wouldn't bring me trouble at all? I hoped it was the last one.

Suddenly, there was a loud beeping coming from my computer, which startled me so much, I almost fell from my chair. Ah, I shouldn't try sitting like L anymore! I had a chat-request. From Madeline.

_Hi Mads!_ I wrote. _What is it?_

_Iris, you won't believe what I saw today!_

Did she see something as well? _Like I asked; what is it?_

_Okay, seeing as we both live a second life in some other dimension, I hope you won't laugh at me for this!_ Just get on with it, Madeline! I'm way too curious now... _I saw some weird boy walking into the park behind school when I left, but that's not just it! It's what he had with him!_

_What was that, then?_

There was no answer for a moment, so I decided to write the question a second time. Just as I did that, Madeline wrote.

_A Shinigami... Iris, Ryuk was following that kid! He was so scary!_

I gasped. Ryuk. She had seen Taro as well, then. _I saw that kid too. I did some quick research; he's from the Death Note universe, his name is Taro Kagami. Ryuk gave him a Death Note when he was thirteen._

_Really? That explains why he had Ryuk floating through the air behind him! It was like no one else saw him, you know._

The corners of my mouth twitched into a little smile, and I wrote back; _That's probably because no one saw Ryuk. I have seen Taro, I even spoke to him but, even though I knew Ryuk was there with him, I couldn't see him._

_Then I'm really the only one? Er, I guess I'm honored, then. Haha!_

I did not reply for a moment. Instead, an idea began to form in my mind. A creepy, skin-crawling idea. Madeline was the only one to see Shinigami, but that didn't mean she had Shinigami Eyes. No, Beyond had the Eyes, but he had never seen Ryuk. Only those with a Death Note can see them...

_Madeline, you used my Death Note, weeks ago, remember?_

_...yes. Why?_

_The person you "killed"... have you seen him or her after that?_

_Come to think of it, no._ There was a pause._ Oh my god, you mean the Death Note you made is real? I killed that person?!_

I sighed. _Yes, I think it is... How else can you see Ryuk? Only Death Note owners can._

_But it's __**your**__ Death Note, not mine! You made it, I only used it! So why are you not the owner of it?_

I quickly thought about that. It was strange, indeed, but as of lately, everything was. Ever since this whole thing started. And the names I had written in the Note myself had never killed anyone. _Well, I don't know why, but it's true. That one classmate of mine is still alive, isn't she? And those two singers, so-called "celecrities" with no talent at all... they are still alive as well, aren't they? Otherwise, the whole world would've known it already. _Yes, that was probably it._ Madeline, I think the Death Note is real, but only to you. You are the real owner of it._

_Then burn it! I don't want that thing to exist anymore! Iris, I love the series, okay? But only because it's fake! I don't want it to really exist!_

Yes, I could understand that, but- _No, Madeline. I will keep it. Who knows, maybe we can use it? _Okay, maybe that sounded wrong. Honestly, I did not want to be a killer, or be something close to it, or be involved in anything like it. But just think of the things we could do with this Death Note! The whole "becoming God of the New World" Light was so obsessed with, no. But so many other possibilities! _If you don't want to use it, don't. I'm fine with that. But there may come a time where we need it, I'm sure of it._

_Fine then, Iris. But I refuse to write in that thing, and if you dare take it to school again-_

That was all she send to me.

_-My parents just called me. Dinner... I'll talk to you again later, okay? And don't forget; do NOT take the Death Note with you anymore!_

And she went offline.

I turned off the laptop, and sat back in my chair, taking some time to register all of this. So the Death Note I had made, using only some paint and a notebook that costed only one Euro, was real? And Madeline was its owner? And besides that, there was a boy from the Death Note dimension in my world now, Taro Kagami. And with him came Ryuk the apple-loving Shinigami.

Without being able to surpress it, a sob broke from my lips. Several.

This whole situation was spinning out of control. How was I ever gonna be able to fix it?

* * *

**Right now, I have no idea either, Iris!**

_**Why not?! It's your damn story!**_

**I know, sorry...**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and keep watch for the next update~!**


	25. Ideas aren't always appreciated

**Hi there!**

**Okay, first; The copy of this fanfic has been deleted, so I'm happy right now~!**

**Then, I want to apologize for not updating yesterday (except for my Author's Note), so I'll make it up to you by posting two new chapters again!**

**So here we go, chapter 25~!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

That night, when I came back to HQ, there were a few differences from when I was there last time.

Aizawa was gone, though I knew that moment was getting close, anyway. Though, if I remembered well, it happened later in the series. Oh well, not like it mattered.

Then there was L, who was still not motivated and practically not doing anything, while he always worked as though his life depended on it.

And last was Matsuda. He was constantly looking at Naomi, who didn't seem to notice that at all.

'Hi, guys!' I greeted everyone. 'Did I miss something important?'

'Not in the least,' Light answered, not looking away from his computer. 'We haven't made any progress this week, and as you can see, Ryuzaki is not really trying to change that.' He gave a sideways glare at L, who sighed.

'I am not the only one in here who's capable of working, Light-kun.' He complained. 'You can handle it without me for a while. I still think we're all trying too hard... we'll only get ourselves killed like this.'

I blinked at him, smiled, and went to sit beside Beyond, who had taken some time off as well, apparently. He wasn't doing a thing.

'And what's wrong with you, Jam-Jar?' I asked teasingly.

Beyond laughed briefly. 'Jam-Jar? What kind of a name is that?' Then he slowly shook his head. 'Ah, I'm fine, really. I just agree with Ryuzaki; we've been working day and night lately, but we're not making progress at all. Maybe we should just wait, and then there'll be something that can provide us with some more information, and-'

'Like more murders?' I interrupted him. They couldn't be serious! Letting Kira continue his killing spree just to-...Oh, right. That's exactly what I'm doing as well. After all, there are many ways in which I could've proven that Light is Kira, but I didn't, just because I want to meet Mello and Near later on.

'Exactly. I know it sounds cruel, but there'll be a time when Kira messes up and we can catch him because of it. We'll just have to wait and see.'

I looked at the Task Force, and Naomi and Light. 'And what do you guys think?'

'Ryuzaki and Rue have both lost their minds and now we'll have to fix that. That is the reason Aizawa left, you know.' Answered Light, still concentrated on his work. The rest just nodded. Really, for once, it was _them_ who looked like detective-machines instead of L. I smiled, rolled my eyes, and turned back to L.

'Hey, Ryuzaki? I know someone who can help us on the case. Is it okay if I bring her here?'

The detective raised his shoulders for a moment, and then shifted into a more comfortable position. 'Sure. You know what they say, huh? The more, the merrier... or does that only count with christmas? Oh well, it's already the twenty-fourth of October, anyway, so it's getting quite close already.' He planted his forehead on his arms, hiding his face. 'Yep, the months have really flown by, but we're still working on the same damned case, without making progress... I am not worthy of the title "the world's best detective"...' The last part was spoken quietly, half in a sigh.

Beyond pulled me close, and whispered. 'Iris, trust me; I have not lost my mind. Ryuzaki, however, _has_. He's been sitting on that chair for almost two days straight now, sulking and complaining, not doing anything else. In fact, I doubt he has even eaten anything today! He's totally lost it.'

'I can hear you, Rue...' Came a muffled statement from L.

'That was my intention, asshole!' Beyond retorted, speaking louder now. 'Anyway, you said it was near the end of October already, right? The twenty-fourth?'

'Indeed.'

Beyond smirked. 'Aw, is that why Lawli-pop is so depressed? What, don't you like getting older, Lawli? You should be happy you still get the chance to reach your twenty-fifth!' He snickered, and L actually looked up now.

'No, Rue, I do not mind the aging progress in any way. It's completely natural and nature is important..._Do not defy the laws of nature!_...' He trailed off, and narrowed his eyes. 'You know, maybe Kira should try to listen to that, too. After all, it's unnatural to kill people by giving them a heart attack, controlling their actions before they die and such, and all of that while _not even being there in person_.' With that said, he planted his head on his arms once again.

'Now now, Ryuzaki! Don't try to change the subject! It's your birthday next week, be happy!' Beyond grinned again. 'Now, how should we celebrate it, huh? Since it'll also be Halloween, maybe I can arrange for HQ to be infested with spiders, bats and snakes? Kyahaha, that would be awesome!'

My eyes widened in fear, and I shuddered. Okay, I liked snakes. A lot. Bats were cool, too, but _spiders?!_ I really loathed the little creepers. 'Rue, my Jam-Jar,' I whispered. 'Please no spiders. Snakes are indeed cool, but please leave the spiders!'

He laughed, then patted me on the head. 'Fine, no spiders. What shall I get instead, then? Maybe I can kidnap a few people, and kill them in here, in the hope to get this place haunted?' He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead, then smiled at me.

'I thought you didn't want to kill anymore, Rue?' I let out a few giggles. 'But I won't mind. I don't care if there are ghosts in here or not, so long as you clean up the mess!'

'That's settled, then!' He smiled at me, and turned back to the still-sulky detective. 'We're gonna make it a day you'll never forget, kyahaha! If not a mental breakdown, you'll get a trauma at the least!'

'... I might be wrong -I can't remember a time in which I have attended even a single party, no matter what it was for- but aren't they supposed to be _positive?_ Like, not causing mental damage and such.' L muttered. 'But, like I said; I might well be wrong. I have never celebrated something before, and even if I did, I can't remember. And Rue,' He quickly added, raising his head to glare at the ex-criminal. 'No murdering people, got it?'

Beyond laughed again, making my skin crawl. He was nothing like the killer he once was, but his laugh still sounded like that of a psychopath. 'Okay, lawli! Whatever you want!'

'And don't call me Lawli. Haven't we discussed that already?'

'Yes, we have! But Ryuzaki still sounds stupid. I keep thinking back to the good old days whenever I call you that! So can I just call you L instead? Or Lawliet?'

L's eyes were now practically blazing with fire. 'Do not say that name ever again, _Beyond!_' He spat, almost like a hiss, while his voice was like venom. 'That, too, have we already discussed!'

Beyond just rolled his scarlet eyes, then leaned against the bak of the couch and planted his feet on the table. 'Whatever, L.'

The Task Force was staring at the two. Again. How many times have they not done so already? Though they _do _have all the reason to do so. '_Lawliet?_ So that's what "L" stands for, then? Heh, Beyond was right; your name _is_ a strange one!' Matsuda commented, then gulped and nervously added. 'Er, no offence, Ryuzaki! It's just... well, whatever country you're from, it's probably a normal name there, so...heheh?'

'He's from Brittain. And no, it's _not_ a normal name!' Beyond said, still grinning widely. Oh, he was enjoying this so much. Every oppertunity to make L mad will be taken by him!

L got off his chair, and made his way towards the stairs. 'Rue, are you done with the identity-revealing _shit_ now? Thanks.'

Suddenly there was a loud thump, followed by an agitated exclaimation from Light. 'Damnit, Ryuzaki! Did you _have_ to drag me from my chair again? I'm still chained to you, remember?'

'Sucks to be you, then.' The detective muttered, not halting to give Light a chance to get up again, but simply dragging him along. After some struggling, the teenager managed to get to his feet, and grumpily followed L, saying things like; 'Just because _you _don't want to work, doesn't mean _I_ don't want to, either!'

I sighed, and gathered a few files that I could work on. 'So we'll have a party next week? Really, Jam-Fan, I'm beginning to think you _are_ going crazy as well.'

Though I did look forward to it, even if it wouldn't be much of a celebration at all. Which it probably wouldn't. After all, it was _L's_ birthday we're talking about here. It would still be October the thirthy-first, Halloween! Not to mention that Madeline would be here by then, too.

I remembered the time-gap in the series, after the fight between Light and L, was two months. One month in my world. But if it was like this all the time, it would be a great month!...

...though it was a little weird, as well. Maybe even creepy? Yeah, I guess it was.


	26. Lining up

**...And it's time for chapter 26.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**Diclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I was just back from another karate training, and this time, my muscles hadn't been tortured as much as last time. Thank goodness. Now I had my laptop in front of me, and fortunately, Madeline was online as well.

_Hey, Mads!_ I typed._ Well, I asked, so please leave the flamethrowers, okay?_

_Haha... typical you, Iris. Why? Am I not accepted in the team?_ It took Madeline only a few seconds to reply, making me wonder if she had been waiting for me to go online or somehting.

_No, that's not it. You're in! But... well, L is the problem, actually._

_What, you let him die? Great job._

_No! He's just... he's gone crazy. The I'm-not-gonna-do-anything-'cause-I-don't-want-to type of crazy. Truth be told, he's rather creepy now. Do you think that's my fault, with everything I influenced in that world?_

_You mean he's creepier than he already was?_

_...Yes._

_Then it's completely your fault! Congratulations, Iris, you made the world's greatest detective, the emotionless panda, snap! Oh, you broke down that oh-so-strong mind of his! Congrats!_

I laughed, then replied: _Well, Beyond helped a lot, too. But hey, without me, Beyond would be dead by now! Speaking of Beyond and L; Next week it's Halloween in that world. And you remember what Halloween means, right?_

For a moment, there was no answer. Apparently, Madeline was digging deep in her memory. And because of that, her answer, when it finally came, did not surprise me._ Not really, no._

_Halloween is L's birthday! He's gonna be twenty-five then!_

_Oh, cool! In this world, he'll be thirty-three on Halloween, right? Wow, the time goes faster in that world, yet, they're stuck in 2004! _Heh, she was right; that was indeed rather strange. But did it matter? Absolutely not. Because, if they were in 2012 as well, the Kira-case would be over, L and Beyond and Naomi would have been dead for eight years already, Mello and Matt would have been dead for two years, and Near would have been eighteen or nineteen. Oh, that's cool. Adult Near, but still with the creepy toy obsession, ofcourse. Or was he over it already?

Well, I'd never see that. Never. What a shame...

_Hey, Mads? Shall we meet at Aoyama? You know, Note-Blue? I think we can both find that, right?_

_Note-Blue? Okay. See you tonight, Iris!_

Without waiting for another reply, she went offline again. And so did I.

Okay, time to get things straight again in my head. Time to state the obvious as well as the less obvious things going on right now. Sometimes, things like this were just necessary.

In my dreams, I enter some sort of different dimension, a world of Death Note.

There, I am Iris, a nineteen year old student at To-oh University, who is now working on the Kira-case with L and the Task Force, as well as Light Yagami, Beyond Birthday and Naomi Misora.

Madeline was soon to be part of the team, too.

Madeline was also the real owner of my Death Note, which was, though only to her, real.

Taro Kagami and Ryuk have entered my world somehow, and I have no idea what they are up to, and how to stop them _if_ they do something bad.

What my goal is, my reason of existense in that Death Note world, I still am clueless.

...Yes, that's pretty much it, I think. At least it were the important things right now. So where should I start? Find my destiny in that world? No, that'd be way too hard. And besides, one will find their destiny only when they're already fulfilling it. It'll come to me someday, but not now.

Madeline owns my Death Note, but she doesn't want to use it, so that's nothing to start with, either. Which leaves me only one option;

Taro Kagami. I had to find him again, maybe present him my Death Note, claim it to be real. And then I'd force him to show me his, too, and let me touch it. Then, I can speak to Ryuk, and he'll hopefully be stupid enough to tell me a thing or two.

My mouth twisted into a grin. Yes, I had something to attend to this afternoon.

* * *

**Nyeh, this was a short chapter, I know, sorry!**

**But I'll update again tomorrow, for i have already written the next chapter!**

**Well, Monday, maybe I won't update. I have to go to a funeral then, so I may not have the time (or right mood) to write again, sorry!**

**But I'll keep writing untill it's finished! *Determined expression***

**So keep watch for the next update~!**


	27. Shinigami talk

**Ah, no! What in the world is going on, two short chapters, right after eachother?!**

**Unfortunatly, yes. I hadn't realised how short this chapter is, it's not even a thousand words!**

**Well, I hope you'll like it, anyway. And besides, there are two chapters again today!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

It had taken me two hours and twenty minutes, but I had finally found Taro again. Sitting on a bench in the park, like when I first met him. Inwardly, I was laughing away, like Ryuk always did, but I had to keep a straight face. So, with a cold and emotionless expression, I sat down beside the boy.

'Taro Kagami,' I said. 'I know you have a Death Note, and a Shinigami at your side.'

Taro turned his head and stared at me, wide-eyed. Then his expression, too, became cold. 'Oh, really now? Tell me; how do you know it?'

I turned too, facing him, locking my eyes with his. 'I have Shinigami Eyes. I can see your name, Taro Kagami, but not your lifespan. Therefor, you must be the owner of a Death Note. My Shinigami told me about it; once you have the Eyes, you can see names and lifespans of those you come across, but if that person has a Death Note, you can't see the lifespan. Your numbers are hidden to me, so you must have a Death Note, right?' I hoped with all my heart that my acting skills were good enough to at least pull this off, otherwise I was throwing my still-short life away. 'But don't worry, I don't mind if you do. After all, I have one, too.' Slowly, I opened my bag, my fake-Note in it.

Taro blinked at it, then grinned. 'The real-deal, huh? Well, let me touch it, then. I want to see your Shinigami.' He reached out to it, and I quickly said;

'Sure, you can touch it. But that won't do any good; my Shinigami, Gelus, has died. All I have left now is this Note.'

Taro laid his hand on it, anyway, but wasn't surprised when he saw no Shinigami floating behind me. 'Very well. Then, as a sign of gratitude that you shared this with me, I'll show you _my_ Death Note, and _my_ Shinigami. Because Ryuk is still alive, and he will be for a long time. How you managed to get rid of yours, I don't care. I want to keep this one with me, anyway.' He pulled a pitch-black notebook from under his shirt, and handed it to me. The moment I laid my fingertips on it, a jolt of electricity seemed to infiltrate my veins, going through my body. After a second, however, it faded. I was now aware of a shadow covering the bench we sat on, a creature looming over us, blocking away the sunlight. Slowly, I raised my head and looked at that creature, the Shinigami.

Ryuk.

He was as scary-looking as I had expected him to be, like some sort of two metres long corpse, rotting already, but somehow alive. His bulging eyes were shimmering, and he seemed to stare stright into my soul and through it. But I managed to keep myself from flinching at the sight, luckily.

'I see. Your name is Ryuk, right? It's an honor to meet you.' I said, still cold. 'You're very different from Gelus, aren't you? He was a rather small rag-doll kind of Shinigami, very timid as well. You, however, look as though you don't know anything but that lovely sadistic pleasure as you kill another human, am I right?' I grinned and narrowed my eyes, trying to look as much as a killer as I possibly could.

Ryuk laughed. 'Yes, I'm Ryuk. And you're right, there is nothing better than killing humans. Especially when they're being "romantic". Oh, to kill one of the two in the middle of a romantic dinner, then watch the other's reaction and kill that one later on... Sometimes I don't know why no one in my realm uses their Death Note like I ocassionally do, it's so much fun!' My skin crawled at the thought, but I still managed to keep up my act. Then Ryuk continued: 'I don't know a Shinigami named Gelus, though. I don't know even half of my kind. But since he was, according to you, small and timid, I bet he had a low ranking.'

Oh, right. I had read about that sometime ago, in Death Note 13, How To Read. It stated that the Shinigami had their own ranking system. The King was the highest, ofcourse, and below him was that golden-and-gem-studded dude named Jastin-something. Really, his name was so long an complicated, I constantly forgot it. Then there were a few others, and then Rem. And somewhere below Rem came Ryuk. And almost at the bottom was Gelus.

'Yes, he had a low rank. But that doesn't matter, right? He's dead, anyway. How he managed to get himself killed is still a mystery to me, though. I haven't killed him myself.' I agreed. 'Anyway, I'll have to go again soon. Ryuk, it was a pleasure to meet you. Taro, thank you for showing me your Death Note.' I stood up and nodded to the two.

Taro smirked. 'Hey, you showed me yours, so that's just the polite thing to do, right?'

I nodded again, and without another word, I left. My heart was beating wildly, painfully hard against my chest.

But I had done it! I had managed to get Taro to trust me enough to show me his Notebook, and Ryuk. This was certainly going to be useful one day, though I had no idea _when_ yet. Maybe it had been useless after all? Well, then this was just another fangirlness-satisfying moment of meeting a manga character.

If you just forget about the part where I could have been killed, or might still get killed later on, this was a great day.

Now, it was time for another great night.

* * *

**Time for chapter 28, then!**

**...Taro acted like quite the idiot there, didn't he? I mean, who'd fall for something like that?!**

**Ah well, it's only convenient for Iris!**


	28. Embarassment

**Okay, long chapter! (1, 814 words, the longest since chapter one!)**

**See it as some sort of late celebration that The Fantasy has reached week number two on this website!**

**So I hope you'll like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I had only just picked up Madeline from Note-Blue, and was now in front of the HQ with her. Before we entered, though, I stopped her and said;

'Er, Mads... maybe you should change your body, like I did. I don't think they'll appreciate children in here, as you can understand.'

She blinked at me. 'Uh, sure. Just one question, Iris: how am I supposed to do that?'

I raised my shoulders. 'Just... think about it. That's what I did. Think about becoming eighteen or nineteen, any age you want, and it'll happen.' I explained. Surely that was the right explaination? It was exactly how it worked for me, anyway. Madeline closed her eyes and seemed to be concentrating hard. Yet, there was no change.

'Can't you do it for me, Iris? I don't think I'm capable of it at all, actually.' She complained after a minute. She was probably right, for nothing had changed even in the slightest bit. But then, was this something only _I _could do? Like she could use my Death Note for real and see Shinigami? I briefly shook my head and concentrated on changing madeline instead.

'What age do you want?' I asked her.

She pursed her lips and swayed her head slowly from side to side. 'Well,' She said slowly. 'I don't want to be _old_, like you are,' I clenched my teeth at the insult. _Nineteen is very young, darn you!_ 'But I guess this is too young, isn't it? Let's see... light was seventeen when he joined the team, maybe eighteen, so L _does_ accept youngsters as well...Sixteen, please!'

I sighed in frustration, and did as she asked. It was a strange sight; her whole appearance had changed to that of an older teenager than she already was, but yet, it seemed as though nothing had changed at all. Had I not known better, I would've thought she looked like a sixteen-year-old all along. Was this how it had gone with me, too? It changed, but you couldn't see it happening. It was really strange... 'Well, we're ready to go now!' I declared, and pulled her inside. Then there was the part I had not yet thought of.

The security system.

Ofcourse it wouldn't let Madeline through. No way in hell it would, if the others upstairs wouldn't allow her to. I let the machines identify me, then went to stand in front of the camera. Lucky me, Beyond had surveilance-duty now.

_'Yes, Iris, what is it?'_ A mechanical voice asked. But the tone told me that this was, indeed, Beyond. _'Are you stuck in there again?'_

My face went red. That had only happened once! 'No, Jam-Fan, I'm alright.' I sighed. 'It's my friend, Madeline. She, er... well, she was accepted on the team last time, and... well, as you can imagine, _she_ can't get through the security now.'

Laughing could be heard on the other side. _'Okay, I'll let her in. See you in a minute, oh Childish-One!'_

'How am I being childish right now, Rue?' I asked, smiling.

_'You were calling me names again. That's childish.'_

'Are you not always doing that with L, too?'

_'Have I ever said _I'_m not childish, as well? But my name-calling is different, Strawberry. Just trust me, it's different.'_

Good. So now I was a strawberry? Well, at least that means he thinks I'm sweet and his favorite flavour. He had such a good taste!... I mean the strawberries, not me. That'd be... well, I don't like being arrogant and such. Though I won't deny that I _was_ pretty arrogant from time to time. But isn't everyone?

A happy squeal from Madeline brought me back to -the current- reality. Why is my mind something that lives its own live so often? 'Iris, I'm through! C'mon, I want to meet L and Light!... and the rest, ofcourse.' She giggled, and together, we went into the elevator. In there, Madeline just continued where Beyond left off in making me feel uncomfortable and embarassed. 'You know, you and Beyond are really cute together! Ofcourse, I have only _heard_ a small conversation, but the names you have for eachother are just _so kawaii!_ Jam-Fan, and Strawberry! Finally something that isn't as cliche as "sweetheart" and "my dear". Blech! Those are _so_ way too soppy and shit! But the things you call eachother... like I said, super kawaii!'

My face went a bright red, and I stammered as I spoke: 'T-thanks, Mads... Y-you really think it's cute? Heheh, th-thanks, I guess!' This amount of shyness was so obvious, Madeline poked me in the side and smirked.

'Absolutely! I can't wait to see the two of you interact instead of only talking through a machine,' Right that moment, the doors of the elevator went open. But Madeline either didn't notice, or she didn't care. 'Iris, you have found the perfect guy for yourself, I'm sure! Just make sure he doesn't get killed in the end, anyway, okay? Use your damned imagination and-' I cut her off by slapping my hand over her mouth, laughing nervously, and pulled her into the room. Only then did she see everyone staring at us, a mixture of confusement and amusement in their gazes.

'Er, uhm... Hi, everyone! Long time no see!...heheh?' I was sure I looked like Matsuda when he screwed up again, right now. Like the world's biggest idiot, something like that. I let go of Madeline again, and said: 'L-last time I was here, I told you all about this friend I have? W-well, here she is! She has helped the Dutch police in closing several cases near our hometown. Missing people, thefts, even a murder!' I had practiced this lie before I fell asleep last evening, so I was sure I managed to get it out of my mouth in a believable way, despite my embarasment of a moment before.

Madeline made a small bow. 'I am known by several names: Mads, Creep and Madeline. I prefer the first and the last, though. Please don't call me Creep, regardless of what your opinion is about me, after we've aquainted a bit more.' She joked as introduction. 'Before you all introduce yourself to me, I want to play a little game, alright?' She smiled before she went on. 'Iris has told me all your names already, and I'd like to see if I can match them with the right faces, okay? Good, let's start!' She pointed at L, and declared: 'Iris has told me that L, also known as Ryuzaki, is a weirdo and certainly not what one'd expect of the world's greatest detective. Which means you're L!'

The detective blinked at her, a distant, vacant look in his eyes. The he turned around on his chair and stared blankly at the screens, pretending to be finally working again.

'Yay, I was right!' Madeline concluded with a few giggles. Then she turned to Naomi. 'You're Naomi Misora, the only other woman on the team!' Then was Light. 'Light Yagami, the poor soul that's chained to L. And you must be... Matsuda, right? You look like a clumsy idiot, but one who knows how to do his job right.' Matsuda's face went a bit red at that, and he had his famous Matsuda-smile on again, while Madeline continued on with the others. Ofcourse, she made a mistake, switching Soichiro and Mogi, but she had done that on purpose. After all, what would everyone think if she "guessed" their names flawlessly? That'd be more than weird. When she was done, she giggled once again, and squealed: 'Okay! Introduction time is now over, let's get to work!' Instantly, she claimed a spot on a couch and studdied several files with amazement unhidden in her eyes.

I smiled and sat down on my usuall spot, beside Beyond. 'Yep, that's Mads!' I laughed, and went back to work myself, too. Wow, there was really nothing new, was there? All these files were exactly the same as we've been working on for two weeks now! Well, Light would make the "Yotsuba-Discovery" soon enough, and then things'll get exciting again. Untill then, I'd simply have to wait. Using my influence to rush things won't do any good, right? So, let's wait... just wait...

_Damnit, I can't take all the waiting anymore! No matter how often I tell myself it'll be fun, it's not! Okay, Madeline is here..._ Realising I had started breathing heavily with the frustration, my eye twitching, I tried the technique of telling myself lies once again._ Madeline is here, I can spent some more time with Beyond, L's birthday is gonna be soon, and knowing Beyond, the poor man'll be tortured. Yes, it will be fun! Just be patient..._ And again, it worked for a moment. I blushed slightly at my mention of Beyond, and got into a fit of giggling at the sight of L being tortured by Beyond. Have I not mentioned I could be very sadistic already? Yes, I have. If you don't remember; I am a sadistic fangirl from time to time. I _love_ it when my favorite characters suffer, wether it's pain -physical or emotional, I don't care- illness or death. I _love_ those scenes with _all my heart_.

I fell silent and opened my eyes as I noticed my name was being said. Multiple times.

'Iris, are you okay?' Oh, it was Beyond. But the rest of the Task Force was watching me as well. My eyes grew wide in embarassment, my already-red face getting only redder, and lowered my gaze to the floor, not wanting to see them staring at me. Beyond laughed. 'I see. Well, you were acting weird, so I thought something was wrong. But,' He leaned in closer to me, his face hovering beside mine. 'Are you sure you're not going just a _little_ crazy as well? It was-' He paused and gave me a quick kiss on the side of my head. '-really weird.' Then he sat up right again.

Still wide-eyed, I let my self slip onto his lap, turning my face away from the Task Force, curling into the smallest ball I could become. Which was, in this body, not quite small enough. I whispered: 'S-sorry for that...' and closed my eyes. Had I been a cat, I would have started purring 'till my throat shattered to pieces now; Beyond was slowly running his fingers through my hair, which felt _so damn good._

'See what I meant, Iris? This is too cute!' Madeline couldn't help but comment, making all the comfort I felt now melt away again, and I whimpered.

Maybe having her here wouldn't be as much fun as I had hoped it would be, at least not untill she would finally quit commenting like that on things like this.

I smiled. Heh, "commenting like that on things like this"... that came out weird!

* * *

**Yes, I do indeed love every single scene in which my favorite characters suffer! Really, my favorite fics on here are the Hurt/Comfort fics! Or tragedy, or horror. One of those.**

**...what a shame I can't write them myself. Not very good ones, at least. Although I _am_ planning a -very- short oneshot with Beyond and L for Halloween~!**

**Okay, now I'll just leave and let all of you readers wait for the next update!**


	29. Snakes and Sake

**Yay~! This is my longest chapter yet! 2,416 words, even without all these Author's drabbles!**

**Now I only hope it'll be a good one, too...**

**Well, chapter 25 already explained a bit about this, but the day has finally come! Oh, have mercy for the poor panda...!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

The day had finally arrived. Finally, all plans could be realised. A day on which the Kira-case was something unimportant, a crime that was nothing compared to what would happen here today.

Poor L.

Madeline and I entered the HQ together. 'Hi everyone!' I said, smiling widely. That smile only grew bigger as I saw Beyond, who had actually kept his word about at least one thing; he had a large snake beside him, which was slowly crawling up his arm.

'Oh wow, that's so awesome!' Madeline exclaimed beside me, and ran to Beyond's side, looking at the snake in amazement, nervously touching it on the head. After a small poke or two, she ran her fingers over its whole body, stroking it as though it was a cat or a dog. I hopped over to L, instead, giving him a hug -he froze with shock, and maybe a little disgust as well- and exclaiming: 'Happy birthday, Ryuzaki!'

The detective squirmed out of my embrace and planted his chin on the desk. He looked just as depressed as always, since we moved to this HQ. '_Happy_?...I'm sorry, Iris, but that would be rather impossible, seeing as this place is now practically infested with animals.'

I looked around curiously. 'But there's only one snake...' I stated, to which L answered:

'One snake, and a lot of other animals. The number of animals in here keeps growing, have you not noticed? First you, then Rue, then Misora-san, Madeline and now a _snake_. Well, at least we got rid of one, as well. Aizawa-san is still gone.'

Ofcourse I was offended by this, but I couldn't help but laugh, as well. 'Okay! I guess I'd be a cat, then, and Madeline a... kitten? She is the youngest here, after all. And Beyond would be-'

'Please don't refrain from using his alias, Iris, even if you two are in a relationship.' L interrupted me. But I went on and ignored him.

'-a cameleon! He can copy you so well, I guess not even I would be able to tell you apart anymore! As for Naomi-san...'

L interrupted me again. Wow, he really was the social creature, wasn't he? 'Iris, had I known you'd make a game out of my comment, I would've kept it to myself. So please, be quiet now.' He let out a sigh and folded his arms around his head, hiding his face.

Since he couldn't see anyway, I stuck my tongue out to him, and said: 'Well, at least we all know we're led by a panda! And I'm not so sure if cats and pandas get along.'

'Whatever...' Came the muffled voice of the detective.

I went back to the couch, where the rest of the Task Force was. Even Light, though he was still chained to L. He had to sit as close to the desk as possible, if he wanted to sit even slightly normal. No one was working, though.

'I don't really get it, Rue.' Light complained. 'Every single holiday or birthday is ignored because of the Kira-case, yet you want to throw some sort of party for Ryuzaki. Why?'

Beyond just laughed, but quickly stopped doing so as the snake -which had now settled itself on his shoulders and around his neck- decided it would be fun to stick its head in his mouth, just out of curiosity. 'Ew! Damnit, you slimy thing!' Beyond complained as he pulled the snake off of himself, grimacing. 'You taste terrible!' Then he answered Light's question. 'Because, Light, that stupid Ryuzaki has _never_ done anything with _whatever holiday_ there was.'

'I have. But only if it was necessary for a case. A while ago, I used to go undercover a lot myself, without using others. But after a rather... traumatic event, I stopped doing it so often.' L corrected him.

I blinked at the curled-up ball that was apparently L -you could only see his back and shoulders, and a little bit of hair stuck out above them- and demanded: 'Oh? What was that "traumatic event", Ryuzaki?' L wasn't really the person to quit something after a bit of trouble. Well, the Kira-case was an exception for now, but he'd get back to that soon.

'Got shot.' Was the only, short answer I got.

'In this line of work, everyone gets shot now and then.' Matsuda said, a curious expression on his face. 'It's not _that_ bad, is it? I've been shot three times already; one in my arm, two in my legs.'

Slowly, L turned to face him, his eyes cold. 'Have you ever been shot in the _chest_, Matsuda-san? Like, three times right after eachother, quite litterally _in the heart_?'

The young police officer's eyes widened, and he shook his head, stunned.

'Well, I have. And trust me, that's not something you'd like to experience. I don't really understand how I am still alive after that, actually... not like it matters.' With another sigh, L turned back and curled into his ball-like position again.

Everyone was silent for a while, and after about five minutes, I decided to look for something that'd make it at least a_ bit _like a party, for all the others. Clearly, no one was in the mood for work now. So I went to the closest kitchen -the huge building had several- and went through the cabinets. I finally found something, and grimaced. I wasn't perticularly a fan of alcoholic drinks (not like I ever had one, they just smell awful), and sake was probably one of the worst you could find here. But, I was pretty much an adult in this world, and all the others were, too. So whatever, only Madeline would have to find something else!

With two bottles of sake and several glasses in my arms, I returned to the investigation room. 'Well, let's just make the best of tonight, right? I hope you all like sake, because I couldn't find anything else!'

Light blinked at it several times, then had some sort of "oh wow, it's really _real_" expression. 'I had never imagined stuff like this to be in here. Aren't you against alcohol, Ryuzaki?' he asked.

The detective shifted his weight a bit, moving into a more comfortable position, but still wit his back to everyone else. 'I am, indeed. Alcohol decreases one's deductive skills and reasoning, even _common sense_, more than anything, with maybe the exception of other drugs. But go ahead, destroy your minds... it's not like we'll need them on this case or anything. I don't care...'

Everyone had poured a glass for themselves now, and Madeline, too, was reaching out to one of the bottles to get some. Amused, I grabbed her wrist and gently pulled it back. 'Not for you, Mads!'

'Why not?' She asked, putting on something close to puppy-dog eyes. 'I'm sixteen! You can have alcohol once you're sixteen, right?'

I grinned. 'Yes, normal stuff like beer and wine. _Strong_ drinks, like this, are still off-limits!' Then I laughed a bit, and added: 'I won't take any, either. I don't think I'd like it, anyway.' _Plus, if we get drunk in here, maybe we'll have a hangover even in the real world. __And we'll get in trouble for that, even if there is a vacation now!_ I added silently, in my mind. Oh, that'd be bad! Imagine what my parents would think if I had a hangover after a night of nothing but sleep and dreams!

We began to talk, share some stories of the past, and laugh a lot. After half an hour, even Watari joined us. But L, ofcourse, wasn't even paying attention to us. For a moment, I wondered if he had fallen asleep, but that wasn't it. He just didn't care. Suddenly, Madeline poked me in the side and whispered something to me, smirking. My eyes began twinkling with mischief as I heard her idea, and so did hers. With a silent gesture to everyone else, so they wouldn't comment on it, we picked up the snake together, which was lying against Beyond's legs, and sneaked over to behind L. Silently, we placed the snake on the back of the chair, and it instantly slithered over it, onto L's back, to his shoulders... after only a few seconds, its head was in front of the detective's, its eyes staring at him intently. As quietly and quickly as we could, Madeline and I went back to the couch and acted as though nothing had happened. Hearing the soft hissing of the snake, L slowly opened his eyes, only to see the animal's head barely three inches away from his. With a scream, he fell from his chair and threw the snake off of himself, his eyes wide as an owl's. Then he slowly turned to face everyone else in the room, glaring at us.

'Very funny...' He muttered before getting to his feet again. To my joy, he went over to us and claimed a spot on a couch as well. That was exactly what I had hoped he'd do, aside from screaming. Which he had also done. I smiled inwardly. Mission accomplished!

L soon saw he had better not taken a spot beside Beyond, who quickly ducked and pulled a rope from under the couch. Swift as his new pet, he used it to bind the detective's arms and legs together, who was everything but pleased with it.

'What the-? Why was there a rope there?!' He exclaimed, agitated. Beyond just lifted his shoulders, an innocent, indifferent look on his face.

'You never know when you can use it.' He answered, then poured another glass of sake.

'And why exactly am I treated like some sort of hostage all of sudden?!' L got no answer. Instead, beyond held the sake in front of his face, which made him grimace and try backing away. What a shame for him the back of the couch was in the way.

'You're gonna take some, Ryuzaki!' Beyond said, grinning widely. He was more than enjoying himself right now. 'You're gonna drink this, wether you want to or not!'

The detective looked digusted by it, and shook his head. For a moment, it made him look like a child that was being forced to eat vegetables it hated. 'W-why am I the only you're forcing to do so like this?!' He protested. 'I-Iris and Madeline haven't taken any, either!'

'Oh, but they will, once they're your age!' Beyond said, almost half-singing. 'You're twenty-five and you've never had alcohol. That is practically a violation of the law! You have to, and if you don't do it willingly, I'll make you!' Then he started laughing again. The one that sounded like a Shinigami's, not his fake psycho-laugh.

L had now closed his eyes, and was whispering something to himself. I could just make out what he was saying. 'I'm sorry, my precious braincells!' Then he gulped nervously and said somewhat louder: 'F-fine... if you'd untie my arms, please, I'll...fine.'

'Kyahahaha! Good little Lawli!' Beyond laughed, then bent down to untie the rope, and handed L the sake.

I almost felt bad for L, who was staring at the drink in disgust. He slowly moved the glass to his lips and, hesitating for a moment, drank a little bit of it. He gagged, and complained: 'Damnit, that burns!' He shuddered for a moment, then sighed. 'But, I'll admit; it doesn't taste too bad, actually.'

Beyond threw his arms in the air, yowling 'Victory!', and I, along with the others, just laughed. Maybe this night'd become something like I imagined it to be. The snake and the attempts at torturing L had already happened, so what was next? I had no idea, but seeing as I was a nutcase without alcohol already, and all the others had had at least two glasses of sake -even L was getting a second one for himself, apparently he liked it- it would be fun.

An hour later, we were all still talking to eachother. Beyond, Naomi and L had started a conversation about the LABB Murder Case, and were all -except for Beyond- laughing when Naomi reminded him of the time where she stepped on him. I was talking with Light, Matsuda, Misa and Madeline, when Mads' eyes grew wide and she grabbed my head with both her hands, roughly turning my face to what had made her so shocked. I couldn;t help but have the same reaction as her.

L had his lips against Naomi's, who made no move to get away. It took me a few seconds to realise he was kissing her. _L_ was really _kissing Naomi_. Totally weird, especially since he always seemed to be annoyed by her. It had now caught the attention of all the others as well, and we all had the same expression." _Hell no, is this real or are we drunk?_"

When L backed away from her again, Naomi's face was red, and she stammered: 'R-Ryuzaki! You-you're drunk, aren't you?'

L seemed to consider this for a moment, then asked 'Er...would you kick me again if I say I'm not?'

Naomi blinked, her eyes now as wide, if not wider, as mine. 'I-I don't know... so you're not?'

L pressed his thumb against his lip, like he usually did, and lifted his shoulders. 'I guess...? Not sure, actually. I, ah, don't know what that's like, as you can imagine.'

Naomi slowly nodded, then lashed out with her hand and slapped him on the face. Before he could utter a sound, however, she had grabbed his face and pulled him closer, kissing him in a not-so gentle way. When she let him go, they both sat normally again, acting as though nothing had happened. L placed his chin on his knees, blinking twice. Obviously he was only now realising exactly what he had done -I guessed the sake was getting to him after all. Then he closed his eyes and smiled a bit. 'Best Halloween ever!' He said quietly, probably to himself.

But ofcourse, we all heard him. While Watari smiled, probably pleased that, for once, L did not only _say_ he was human but _acted_ like one too, the rest was just stunned. This was... not what we expected. Of everything that could've happened, it was certainly not his what we had thought about.

But inwardly, I was cheering. I had brought Naomi and Beyond here, and look where they ended up. _Great Kami-sama, I'm like a super-matchmaker!_

* * *

**Yup, there are already two pairings in this story~! However, I'm not sure what to do with Naomi and L yet... but I hope it'll be something fun!**

**Oh, and I haven't thought of a name for the snake yet, but I think I'll keep it for a few chapters at least. So, any sugestions?**

**I hope you liked this chapter, and keep watch for the next update!**


	30. Never again

**Hey, a second one today? Yes, indeed!**

**A very short one, though. I just felt like writing this just now XD**

**Okay, just a warning about this chapter; It's extremely weird, and again in L's PoV. (Oh, that sounds bad, doesn't it?!)**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any oher fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I opened my eyes, and imediatly shut them again. It was still rather dark, but yet too light. Argh, and that headache was killing me! Carefully, I opened my eyes again, but keeping them half closed untill I'd be used to this light again. Slowly I began to realise where I was. This was a... bedroom? I guess so... Wait, does that mean I've slept last night? I hardly ever do that more than three times a week, and this was...the fifth time this week? No, no that's not right... oh, right. The second.

And today was... twentieth of...October? No, yesterday was the thirty-first... right? Wait, if yesterday was the thirty-first, then today must be... thirty-sec-

-the first of November. Stupid me, there is no such thing as more than thirty-one days in a month. Why was that, actually? Another stupid thing humanity came up with, so long ago. Months. What good are they? Can't we just say something like "it's the one-hundred-and-fifth day of 2003", something like that. Would be just the same, right? Why months?

...good god, is this how Iris always feels when her mind goes wandering off again? Well, without the headache, ofcourse. Where did I get that, anyway? Yesterday?...

How come I don't remember anything from yesterday...? It was the thirty-first, which means... oh, right. Halloween, and my birthday. Yes, Beyond felt like he had to act like an idiot and stop us from working just because of that. Why did I take that moron into the team, again? Oh... he was the best puzzle-solver in the whole world, besides me, that's why.

But aside from that, what happened yesterday? What is it that gave me a headache like this? Because it's really getting on my nerves now.

...there was a snake, right? How did Beyond even get that creature? Ah, never mind. Okay, L, think... there was a snake, you fell from a chair, went to sit with the others and then...

My eyes opened more widely now, as I remembered. Beyond forced me to drink some sake. The memory of it made my throa burn again. But hey, I hadn't lied when I said it didn't taste bad. It was quite enjoyable, actually. Okay, so what happened after that? I got myself another glass... that makes two. But the glasses were small, so that wouldn't be a problem. Then I discussed the LABB Murders with Beyond and Naomi, right? And then... a third glass of the sake. Damn, that stuff was sweet... But after that?

...

My face grew hot and I had the urge to bury my face in a pillow, just to hide from the embarassment. Then again, that too, had been quite enjoyable, hadn't it? Yes, it had...

Okay, now that I got yesterday back in my memory, maybe it was time to get up and get back to work. Damn that stupid work. It's not like we found anything, anyway.

But as I pushed myself up, so I sat, I noticed something in the corner of my eye that made my skin crawl. The snake...? No, that wasn't it... I gulped nervously, and slowly turned my head to look at it.

Oh, hell no. You've got to be kidding me! Is that... Naomi? Damnit, looks like her... Carefully, I leaned closer to her, poked her once, twice... yes, this was definitely real, not some sort of dummy or anything...

I gritted my teeth, sighed, and got out of that room as quickly as I could, only just in time remembering to actually get dressed.

Sake... never again.

* * *

**The poor guy. If that isn't traumatic, then I don't know what is! XD**

**Okay, this is really hte last chapter for today, I swear! (unless I get the urge to write crack after that funeral today, you never know!)**

**So, bye for now!**


	31. Theory

**Okay, this chapter is a bit short again. But it's still over a thousand words, so I don't have to be ashamed of it XD**

**Anyway, on thing I'd like to say; Madeline, thank you so much for this idea! It's amazing, I just couldn't wait 'till I got home and could write it! And I hope you'll like it!**

**Then something else; Everyone who reads this, reviews it, favorites it, follows it, whatever! Thank you all so much! The last two weeks have been really depressing for me (ever since I started writing this, actually), but everytime I see someone has reviewed or anything, it just makes me so happy! Or when I see how many times this has been read... so really, thank you, all of you. It really helped me through these two weeks!**

**Okay, enough talk. Let's get on with the story, shall we?**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Last night had been awesome. A snake, an OOC L, hanging out with Madeline and the rest. Pure awesomness. The end of it, however, had been less so. Matsuda, influenced by alcohol, had begun acting like an even greater idiot than he already was. L was OOC the whole night, and so were the others in the end. On top of that, Madeline and I had only just managed to get out of there before our bodies vanished and we woke up.

Just great.

Now I was chatting with Madeline once again, discussing the night. But suddenly;

_You know, Iris, I have a new theory about your Death Note, and how I can use it._

Curious, I waited for her to continue.

_You made it. You're the original owner, right? Well, I am the one to use it. I own it now. Doesn't that remind you of something?_

_...well?_

She waited, probably hoping for anxiety to eat away at me before she finally explained it._ That's almost how it works with Shinigami, isn't it?_

Shinigami. Me. Me? Shinigami?_ You're kidding me, Mads. Do you think I'm like a Shinigami? Really?_

_Yes. You can't use your own Death Note, not now, at least. That's because I own it. But you made it, you're its original owner. When a Shinigami's notebook is owned by a human, they can't use it. But they're the original owner of it. Yes, Iris, I really believe that, in a way, you're a Shinigami. Not just any Shinigami, but the one that is connected to me._

Is such a thing even possible? Can a human like me, a normal human, one that has always lived like a human, really be a Shinigami as well? No, right? I'm a human, not a demon, a reaper!...

But Madeline had a point. How come I made that thing, own it, but can't use it? Because, before I even wrote a name in it, I presented it to Madeline, let her _touch _it. With that, she became the owner. Its _real _owner. But it was originally mine.

My mind was chaotic now, my pulse racing. Remember to breath, Iris. Keep breathing. In, out, in, out.

_Iris?_ Madeline typed after my long silence. _Are you okay?_

I shook my head ans forced myself to calm down, which was harder than it seemed. _I guess I am... I'm just... how can usch a thing be possible? I'm human. I mean, I've been born like any other human, I have a real gender, not just something that the Shinigami King appointed me...at least, that's how I think it goes with Shinigami... anyway, I look like a human, I have to breath, I have to eat, I have emotions, I can get tired, I can get hurt. How much more do you want me to list in here, because there's a lot more that says; Iris is a HUMAN. Although you do have a point, and this is somehow similar to a Shinigami, there's no way I am one._

_No, I doubt it, too. But it does seem like it, doesn't it? It's just a theory, don't freak out over it._ _I know you're human. But can't there be some other breed of Shinigami? Like, part human, part Shinigami. If such a thing exists, maybe you're something like that?_

Like a bullet, something shot into my mind, penetrated my thoughts and made everything else fade to the background. Some time ago, when I told Beyond where I really came from... _Madeline, there's something I must tell you._

_Yes?_

_Something Beyond told me._

_Oh, there she goes again! Beyond this, Beyond that... Iris, you have a boyfriend, fine. But please, do not constantly talk abou-_

_Really important. He told me he couldn't see my lifespan or name. At first, I thought that was because I'm not from that world, but... tonight, we should ask him if he can see your name. Since you own a Death Note, a lifespan won't be visible, but your name will. If he can see it, maybe I really am some sort of half-Shinigami, or something like it._

_Great idea! And Iris..._

She paused, and I asked what it was she wanted to say.

_Even if you are a Shinigami, please don't worry. No one else will know, just me, alright? And I won't mind. You're either just Iris, or you're Iris he Shinigami, and have always been that. If it's the latter, I became friends with a reaper, and I will stay her friend. Just because you'd be a demon-like creature, doesn't mean you're not you anymore. Okay? I, eh... just don't want you to worry about it too much. Promise?_

Aw... she could be a nutcase, ofcourse. But Madeline could be so sweet sometimes, as well. _Yeah, I promise. Thanks, Mads._

Ofcourse I worried. Ofcourse I hoped I was just a human. But then again, Madeline was right; whatever I am, I have always been that. Just because I know what I am doesn't change it. Like when I first heard I had ADD. It has always been a part of me, it doesn't bother me much, so why worry? Because I have some sort of tag now, a diagnosis? No. I'm still just me. And that was exactly how it'd be with this. I'm a Shinigami, a reaper, a demon? Okay, so what? That doesn't mean I'm not Iris anymore.

And besides, no one would have to know. And even if I told some random person "Hey, I'm a Shinigami!" how high is the chance they'll know what that means? Very low, unless they're Japanese.

So whatever tonight would bring, I was okay with it. Completely.

Besides, there'd be so much great things I could do if I were a reaper. Maybe not in this world, but in the Death Note world, I'd be immortal. Especially since I have no Death Note to use to save someone's life with. No sacrifices could be made by me like that, so there was no way I'd die.

I grinned, began to laugh softly. Immortal. Yes, I liked that thought. Me, being immortal. My laughing got louder, and even more so. I was sure they could hear me downstairs, but I didn't care. Why should I? But soon, I fell silent. My grin hadn't left my face, though. No, it had only grown wider. My lips parted slightly, and I whispered quietly;

'Heheheheh...who's the god now, Light?'

* * *

**Oooohhhh... bad thoughts, Iris! Bad thoughts!**

**I'm not sure how much of the God-Complex, as I will call it (not sure how to call it, actually), she will get. I think not as bad as Light, though. Or maybe she will, don't know.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, and keep watch for the next update!**

_**P.S. Please, help me get a name for Beyond's pet snake! I can't think of anything!**_


	32. Mind breakers

**Okay, I have decided a name for the snake, which'll b revealed in the next chapter! I didn't choose any of the sugestions everyone made, but I did get inspired by them, so thanks!**

**Anyway, let's get on with the story, right?**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Madeline and I had taked Beyond to his room, and made sure the Task Force was too busy to think of watching us in here. The scarlet-eyed man was watching us with curiosity.

'Well, ladies, I would appreciate it if you told me why you brought me here.' With a smirk, he added: 'I really hope you're not planning to rape me or something.'

'We're not.' I said quickly. Damn his jokes, sometimes they were all but funny. 'No, we want to ask you something.'

He nodded, and folded his arms against his chest. 'Ask away, then.'

This time, it was Madeline who spoke. 'As you have probably guessed, I'm just like Iris not fromt his world, but another dimension.'

Beyond nodded again. 'That's what I thought, yes. So?'

'You can't see my name and lifespan, right?' I went on. 'Well, can you see hers? Her name, lifespan... can you see anything?'

He gave a quick glance above her head, then turned to me. 'Yes, I can see her name. Only her name, though. Why?'

I felt as though the floor gave way under my feet, and a deep chasm opened up under me. So that means I might really be a... a Shinigami! It might actually be true... I felt dizzy, and swayed a bit. Instantly, Beyond placed his hands on my shoulder and back, keeping me balanced.

'What's wrong, Iris?' His voice sounded worried. 'Hey, breathe slowly, okay? Nice and calm.'

I did as he told me, but it didn't work that much. I thought I had been prepared for something like this, but apparently I wasn't. But do as Beyond says. Breathe. When I had that under control again, I answered, but not knowing what to say exactly. I didn't want him to know. How would he react? Besides, we weren't even sure yet. Then again, how sure _could _you be about this? You can't just go and ask someone wether you're a demon or not, they wouldn't know. But if it was true, then how would Beyond react? Would he...leave me already? So soon, just because of something like this? Okay, this wasn't something _small_, I'll admit.

'I-I'm just...wow. So I'm the only one without a name here? That's...wow.' Was all I said.

'It's weird, I know. But hey, that doesn't matter.' Beyond answered, smiling at me. Great Kami-sama, sometimes he had such an angel-like smile... and to consider what he once was! A murderer with the smile of an angel. 'Now get up again, Iris! Let's not worry about this, okay? It doesn't matter wether I see your name or not, really.'

_Yes, it does. _Three words that I wanted to deny with all my heart now. Today, I had been so sure I could handle this. So sure. But maybe that had just been stress, anxiety. Yes, it probably had been just that.

'Yeah, I know.' I said, my voice quiet, trying my best to keep it steady. 'Anyway, thanks, Beyond. I was just... very curious about this, and so was Mads.' I shook my head briefly, and together, we left again, heading back to the investigation room. And when we arrived there...

...damnit. Ofcourse _they_ were here now, too!

Aiber and Wedy. Two characters that had, in my eyes, no significance at all. They were just there, being annoying and all. All I have ever seen them do -though I will admit I hardly ever payed attention to scenes with them- was being their criminal-selves, being arrogant, playing a role in Matsuda's part of the "Yotsuba-Discovery", and helping Misa with acting. Which she obviously _couldn't_. I sighed, and let yet another lie slip off of my tongue:

'Hi, guys! May I ask who those two are?'

And there L came, explaining things about them and blah, blah, blah. Oh, why did they die _after_ L? I'd have to wait for so long! Unless Madeline...no. No, she wouldn't do that. Hey, if I kept L alive, which I was really planning to do, what would happen to Aiber and Wedy? Would Light kill them anyway? Probably not. But L would also find out that Light was Kira, and then I'd never get a chance to meet Near and Mello! Damn, I really _had_ to find a way to keep L alive, yet incapable of work. But how?

Worries for later on. Not now. Now, all I had to worry about was what I am. Human, Shinigami, both, or neither? I'd find out eventually, I was sure of it. Maybe I could ask Ryuk? No, he's way too stupid for that. Or he just doesn't care. Maybe both. Rem, however, was a different story. She was very intelligent, and really willing to answer questions. She told L about the Death Note, explaining everything she knew about it, so long as it wouldn't reveal Kira and S-Kira's indentities. Yes, once I got the chance, I'd definitely ask Rem about it.

Which meant I had to pay attention to the investigation, and thus Aiber and Wedy, for now, untill I got that chance. Damnit. Before I knew, luckily, the introduction was over, and we all had to get back to work. And so we all did.

All but one. Ofcourse Madeline didn't work. Why would she? Well, I don't know... because we _have_ to, maybe?! But I couldn't blame her; this was hard for me, too, in the beginning. Once she realised this was real, a second-life, maybe the fangirl inside of her would subside, at least while she was here.

Now, however, she was sitting beside L, staring at him. Copied his position, knees against her chest, thumb against her lower lip. Every few seconds, the detective would glare at her from the corner of his eyes. But ofcourse, smiling was her only reaction to it. Now everything, wether it was insanity, anger, extreme happiness or whatever other thing, would only trigger her inner-fangirl to scream; _Ah! So kawaii! Kawaii-desu, Kawaii-desu~!_

But in time, she would get over it. Hopefully.

This went on for at least half an hour, and eventually, L snapped. Somewhat. 'Madeline, would you please either tell me what's so interesting about me, or stop staring and get back to work?!' As usuall, his voice was cold and monotone, but again edged. Oh, if Mads wouldn't stop now, she'd be in _trouble_.

But her smile only grew wider. 'Sorry, L-kun! You're just funny to watch, the way you sit and such!'

The detective's eye twitched at that. 'W-what did you call me?'

'L-kun~!'

L stared at her for a moment, then he stood up and walked over to her. Madeline only blinked at him as he stood in front of her like some sort of predator cornering its prey. The poor girl. 'Never. Call me. L-kun.' He said slowly, his voice really edged with anger now. 'Never.'

'Alright, Ryuzaki-kun!'

Barely four seconds had passed when Madeline lay akwardly on the couch beside me, scrambling up and shaking her head. 'W-what happened?'

I had a hard time holding back laughter. It had been four highly amusing seconds. 'He picked you up vy the shoulders and threw you over the back of the chair you sat on. Fortunately for you, he's not too bad at throwing people, and you landed here. Could've been the floor or a table instead.' I chuckled. When she sat properly again, I handed her a handfull of files, some of them about Yotsuba already. Yes, that time had almost arrived. Soon, Light and Misa would regain their memories of their crimes and life as Kira. Rem would come here...

...L would die soon. Damnit, maybe I didn't have as much time left as I thought I had. I guess Mads might be able to help me think of something. But what could possibly convince _L_ to stop working on the Kira-case? Death, ofcourse, but I wanted everything but that. And I couldn't think of giving him some sort of breakdown, mental health problems. No, I couldn't do that. Not to him, or anyone. So maybe I should do something to his physical health? Ofcourse that wouldn't work. Even if he were paralised completely, stuck in a wheelchair his whole life or worse, he would never give up on this case. Never. So what could I do? Convince him to live a normal human life, and just forget the detective work? He had enough money to live on the rest of his life, so that wouldn't be a problem. But how do you convince someone who has never known anything but this work to stop doing it? That would be hard, if not impossible.

And besides, L living a normal life? Never gonna happen. The guy hardly knows what being normal is, let alone be able to live that way.

At least I'd have something to crack my head on in the coming weeks; How to stop L from working on the case, but while keeping him alive.

Damnit.

* * *

**I've really been thinking, but I just can't come up with anything that might stop L from working! But I'm still busy crackin my head on it~!**

**I hope you liked the chapter, and thanks for reading.**


	33. Matsuda Issues

**And here's number 33 already~!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

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Matsuda. That's where we were on the series now. Episode nineteen, _Matsuda_. It has been a little while since Aiber and Wedy joined us, and since Light figured out (third-)Kira might be a member of Yotsuba.

And today, Matsuda would act like the idiot he was and almost get himself killed, but make a huge discovery whil doing so. Confirming that Yotsuba works with Kira.

And ofcourse, I was left with nothing to do but wait, and think. Think about the same two things that have been giving me headaches lately. How to save L, and what the hell am I? Yeah, sometimes, life sucks. There were a few nice things, though. Madeline, who just kept on annoying L, which was always fun to watch, for example. Ofcourse Beyond, too. He'd never get boring. And his pet, Sanguis. Turns out he wanted to keep his snake. Why he called it _Blood_, I don't know. After all, its scales were brownish-grey, and its eyes were amber. Nothing red on it, nor something else that may remind people of blood. But hey, Beyond was a mystery himself, right? Most of the time, he was as normal as any other person here -which wasn't particularly _normal_ at all- but there were also times in which he had some sort of psycho-relapse or something. He'd just fall back into his old habits, with the exception of murdering people... I hope.

I was now holding a mouse by its tail, letting it dangle in front of Sanguis, who didn't seem hungry at all. Then what did I catch this mouse for? I mean, I saw it walking, imediatly decided to give it to the snake as a treat, and caught it with my _bare hands_! And now the stupid thing didn't even look at it! Well, so much for my hard work. Okay, it wasn't that hard. I oftenly catch mice when I see one. Heh, undersand now that I said, if I were an animal, I'd be a cat? Yeah, another weird part of me.

Putting the mouse in a cage, so Sanguis could eat it some time later, I went back to the others.

Just in time to see a rather amsing scene unfold.

Everyone was gathered beside the main desk, discussing how they'd save Matsuda from being killed by Yotsuba. Naomi was speaking at the moment, but L soon interrupted her.

'I'm sorry, Misora-san, but that idea won't work.'

'Why not? I mean, I didn't spend much time thinking it up, I know, but we don't _have_ much time! I think it may work very well.' Naomi's voice sounded confident and protesting, and she folded her arms, staring at the detective with a demanding gaze. _Explain to me why it won't work, thank you. I think it's awesome._

This look in her eyes wasn't missed by L, ofcourse. 'Misora-san, would you please stop looking at me like that? It's annoying.'

At that moment, Beyond went to stand behind L and placed his chin on the detective's shoulder, grinning as if his life depended on it. 'Annoying, huh?' He said, with somewhat of a purr in his voice. 'So now she's annoying again? Bet ya didn't think that when you two-'

'Shut it!' L cut him off, his face getting slightly red, something I had never seen before. Naomi blushed, too. What in the world was Beyond talking about? Must be something embarassing, though. Maybe that time they kissed, on Halloween? Probably not. I mean, that wasn't such a big deal, right? It was just once...er, twice, actually.

But ofcourse, Beyond didn't stop. He was just like Madeline when it came to this. 'Aw, what's wrong, Ryuzaki? Are you getting shy now? Embarassed? Heehee~! Why is that? I mean, it must've been a real _pleasure_, huh?' He snickered softly as L's head lowered to shoulder-hight, the little that was visible of his face as red as Beyond's eyes.

Okay, I hope B's not gonna make it detailed now. I mean, I get it now, and I've heard enough. A bit too much information for such young ears, thank you!

'How the hell do you even know about that...?' L muttered, barely audible.

'I have my ways, Lawli!' Beyond laughed again. 'Well, maybe you should turn the cameras off when you do things like that, huh? I mean, you can rewatch old recordings, and they're _infrared_ cameras, moron!'

This earned him a punch squarly in the face, and a hard one. L was a lot more agressive than in the anime and manga, and that was probably because of Beyond, who now held a hand against his mouth, a sliglhtly pained look on his face.

'That really hurt, you know.' He mumbled, moving his hand away and looking at it. He was bleeding, even if it was only a little. 'Damn you, L.'

'Same to you, asshole.' Okay, even though it was strange to hear _L_ call someone an asshole, I probably would've reated the same way, had I been in such a situation. He seemed to have put it all aside in a matter of seconds, ready to come up with a good plan to save Matsuda.

But Madeline opened her mouth just a bit faster. 'Aw, darn it! I had actually hoped you were still single!' She joked. 'But I guess you're not anymore, hm? What a shame...'

'Do you want to get hit as well?' L muttered. Then he cleared his throat and said: 'Anyway, that is... unimportant. What we should be thinking about is how we can get Matsuda out of that stupid situation he got himself in again.'

This was clear enough. _Just shut the hell up or I'll kill you._ So I spoke up;

'Maybe we can get him to "die" in front of the eyes of all eight men, so he'll be out of trouble.' When everyone was staring at me as though I was going insane, I added: 'Well, not really dying, ofcourse. But an act. Like, some sort of stupid trick that goes wrong, when he "drunk" or something. We need a few others to act as well, though.'

Everyone seemed to consider this. 'May work. So what's your idea, Iris?' Light asked me.

'Like, fall off a building. But well catch him, so he'll be safe. But then one of us, maybe Aiber, will lie on the street, dressed like Matsuda. That'll make it seem like he really died. We need a fake ambulance, as well.' I turned to L. 'I asume you know how to get one?'

'Done in a minute.'

I smiled. 'Good. Does everyone agree with this?'

They all nodded, and Madeline came to stand by my side. 'Good plan, Death Note-fan!' She whispered. 'I remember that chapter! It was... weird. But cool as well!'

Luckily, Beyond was the only one who heard her. He leaned in close to us, and whispered; 'Madeline, would you please not talk about this world and our lives as chapters of a story? It's creeping me out, knowing that this was fiction to you.'

'Sorry, Jam-Fan!'

Suddenly, his eyes grew wide. 'Damnit, you know who Kira is!' Oh, wow. Did it take him so long to realise that? Maybe he wasn;t as smart as I thought he was. 'Why haven't you told anyone?!'

'Because Li- Kira would kill us for it.' I answered. 'Plus, there isn't enough evidence to prove it yet, we'll only be called crazy.'

'Not if you explain everything.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Yeah, as if all the others would believe us as easily as you did!' I shook my head and hugged him. 'I just won't tell, okay? We'll all know it eventually, anyway.'

He chuckeled briefly. 'Ah, so the series end with Kira in jail, or dead, and L victorious? That's fine, then.'

I bit my lip, thankfull that he couldn't see it. I couldn't tell him, right? 'Yeah, Kira dies. He loses.' That was all I could bring over my lips. What if I couldn't come up with a solution for the L-problem? He'd die... I couldn't tell anyone that L'd die. Never.

Suddenly, I began to panic, and before I knew a sob had escaped my mouth. I heard Beyond ask what was wrong, but I didn't answer. Instead, I freed myself from his arms and ran off, pulling Madeline with me. Once we were somewhere alone, she too asked what was going on.

'P-please help me, Mads!' I whispered.

'With what? What's wrong?'

I bit my lip again and forced my sobs to subside. 'L! L will die soon, and I don't want him to! B-but I don't want him to continue working on the case, either! I want to give Near and Mello a chance to shine as well! And Matt, Mikami... everyone that comes after his death! B-but how am I gonna do that?!'

She was silent for a moment, not knowing how to answer. 'Maybe... maybe you should just think of making him survive for now. The rest comes later.' She eventually said. 'Don't get yourself too stressed. I mean, you have enough going on already. First find out who and what you are, okay? The rest can wait.'

I nodded slowly. Yes, that may be the best thing to do. It would take L some time to get over Watari's death, anyway. Because, at first I had planned to keep the old man alive as well, but because it's so fast after eachother, that may be too hard. And with both L and Watari alive, the case would be solved to quickly. So Watari will die, like he is supposed to. L will live.

Now I should just concentrate on the other major thing. Am I human or not?

If I were Shinigami, think of the things I could do. I'd be able to live even after being shot in the head or heart. Damn, I'd be immortal.

Just like a god should be.

* * *

**And the bad thoughts have returned...**

**Anyway, Athenafreak: this wasn't really blackmailing, but I do like the idea of Beyond making L mad on all sorts of ways, and this was a good one! Thanks for the idea! (goes for Sanguis' name as well. Ah, the idea to use Latin! My favorite school subject...)**

**Thanks for reading, as usuall!**


	34. Psychos

**Okay, I didn't exactly know how to continue, so there was another time-gap, sorry!**

**Well, it's the part where they catch Higuchi, so I hope you'll like it.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

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Days later already, it was finally time.

Time to chase and catch Higuchi, the Third-Kira. A whole lot of planning, and now it was finally happening. This was probably the most exciting thing I have done since I first came to this world. I was with Beyond, Naomi and Madeline now, Mogi, Soichiro, Wedy, and Aiber somewhere behind us. L, Light and Watari were in a helicopter just above.

This was going well so far.

And within minutes, Aizawa and the rest of the police would arrive, enabling us of actually cathching Higuchi. I can't say I wasn't scared. After all, I was on the ground, exposed to him and his Eyes, as well as a gun. I mean, I know I didn't really have a name in this world, so a Death Note wasn't exactly something to worry about. But a gun... I shiver went down my spine, and I bit my lip. And what about Madeline? She _did_ have a name. And he had a notebook. But I guess everything'd be alright. After all, in the anime everything went well, too, right? No one would die but Higuchi himself.

I wasn't given any more time to think. The police had arrived, time for bussiness.

'Chief, Higuchi is cornered.' Beyond told Soichiro. 'We can aprehend him now. But please do remember to keep those helmets on; he won't know your name if he can't see your face. And a gun might not be a bad idea, either.'

Hesitating for a moment, I grabbed a gun as well and got out of the car with the others. Higuchi was still in his own car, but his eyes were flickering from one person to another, getting more enraged with the second. At least he couldn't see a single name. But unlike in the anime, he didn't look as though he'd give up willingly. Instead, his eyes revealed nothing but rage and murderous intentions. He scared me a lot just now.

Aizawa and Mogi were now beside his car, armed and holding handcuffs. And went there, too. With all the things going on lately, I hadn't been of much help to the case, so I felt I had to do this.

'Kyosuke Higuchi,' Aizawa said. 'Get out of the vehicle and surrender. There is no way you're gonna get away now.'

And so the Third-Kira did. Well, pertially. He opened the door of his car, and slowly stepped out of it, his hands above his head. In a split second, however, he had grabbed something from behind his neck, and a loud sound could be heard. Almost like an explosion.

Pain went through me in tidal waves, and I fell backwards. Only when I lay on the ground, Beyond and Madeline at my side with extremely worried expressions, did I realise I had been shot. The pain was intense, especially in my chest. So that's where he hit me, then? Damn, I'm screwed. This was exactly what I had been scared of. Someone getting killed, or getting killed myself. For a moment, my vision blurred, and I felt dizzier than ever.

But it faded before even two seconds had passed, along with the pain. I wasn't dead, however. The world had only become clearer than it had since the start of this chase, now that my fear had subsided as well.

'Iris! Damnit... are you still with us?' Madeline's voice came to my ears like music. Another sign that I wasn't dead.

'Come on, Iris, say something!' That was Beyond. 'Please respond, I don't care how! Just don't die, okay?!'

I felt my mouth twist into some sort of combination between a smile and a grin, and I blinked. '...I'm okay, really. I'm completely fine.' Slowly, I pushed myself up with my elbows, and before I knew, I stood on my feet again. Beyond and Madeline, as well as the others, were staring at me in utter astonishment.

'T-that bullet went straight through your chest, Iris...' Mogi stammered.

'You should be dead!' Aizawa added. 'Yet, you're just standing there as if nothing happened! And there isn't even any blood! How is that possible?'

I grinned as realisation seeped into my mind. I had just survived a gunshot in the heart. Now there was only one more thing I wanted to make sure. Confident, I walked over to Higuchi, who was already handcuffed. He, too, was staring at me as though I were a monster. And he was damn right about that. I leaned close to him, my face only inches away from his.

'Kyosuke Higuchi,' I said, my voice only just more than a whisper, yet loud enough to let everyone else around me hear my words. 'I know how you kill. With a notebook, right? I've seen you write down someone's name in it, and though that person didn't die, that _was_ your intention, judging by your reaction afterwards. Well, why don't you try killing me, then?' I pulled off my helmet, hearing the shocked gasps of everyone around me.

'Iris, are you crazy?!'

But I didn't pay attention to them. 'I'll undo those handcuffs for you, and all you have to do is grab that notebook and write my name in it. If you do anything else, I'll kill you. Got it?'

Higuchi nodded. 'B-but I can't see your name...' As I got rid of the handcuffs for a moment, I grinned at those words.

'Oh, really now? I'll just tell you, then.' Higuchi now had the Death Note in his hands, pen already on the paper. His hands were shaking, though, and he looked unsure of what to do. I laughed softly, then said: 'My name is Iris den Weerden. I-R-I-S D-E-N W-E-E-R-D-E-N. Well, have you written it down yet?'

He nodded, and turned the notebook. And yes, there it was. My name. Now I just had to wait. I was either a complete idiot who had just killed herself, or I was indeed what I was now convinced of.

A Shinigami.

How many seconds has it been? Fifteen? Just twenty-five, twenty-four, twenty-three. Oh, how slow the seconds went by now.

'Y-you're supposed to die within fourteen seconds now.' Higuchi stammered.

Twelve. Eleven. Ten. Nine. Eight. I was getting curious now, and somewhere in the back of my mind, there was panic as well. What if I did die? Would I die in the real world as well? Five. Four. Three. Two.

One.

Nothing.

Nothing happened. I still stood here, alive and well, after being shot and written down in a Death Note. I was alive.

I was immortal, a Shinigami.

My grin grew only wider now, and I tilted my head to one side. 'What is it? You can't kill me?' A soft laugh escaped my lips, and while I was laughing, I just kept on talking. 'You can't kill me! I didn't die at all! I can't die! _I can't die!_ Kyahahaahaa!' My laugh now sounded like that of Beyond, but just worse. Somehow, it spooked even myself. But did I care? Did it matter? No. Not in the least. Now I just handcuffed Higuchi again, taking some time for myself to let my laughter subside. Then I picked up the Death Note from the ground, and imediatly saw a shadow looming over my own. I turned my head slightly and stared at its owner from the corner of my eyes.

'And you must be... a Shinigami, am I right?' I whispered, narrowing my eyes a bit. Rem didn't answer, but she nodded. I brought my eyes back to the notebook in my hands. 'How fascinating...' I then looked up at all the others, and they flinched. Why would they? Well, that too, didn't matter anyway. 'Everyone, I would like you to touch this notebook. And please, don't be so scared that you'll scream your lungs out. I hate loud noises.' i barely noticed it myself, but my voice was cold as ice.

Hesitating for a moment, Soichiro stepped forward and took the Death Note. The moment he spotted Rem, his jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide. Quickly, Aizawa grabbed the notebook, having the same reaction. That went on untill everyone on the Task Force was gaping at the Shinigami looming over them. I took the Death Note again and brought it to Madeline and Beyond, who were standing somewhere at the back. They touched it without a question, and looked at Rem. Not a single glance was given to me, however. I blinked and leaned against Beyond's shoulder, like I oftenly did. But he pushed me away.

'What's wrong?' I asked him, surprised by this.

Now he did look at me, confusement and anger in his scarlet gaze. '_You_ are. What the hell were you thinking, giving Higuchi the chance to kill you like that?! But you didn't die at all... just what are you, really?'

'That's just something for people who aren't from this world, I guess.' I lied, not wanting him to know what I _really_ was. Only now did I realise that I hade pretty much screwed myself by reacting like a psycho like I did, just a moment ago. 'I... when he shot me, and I didn't get hurt, I just wanted to know if he couldn't kill me like that, either. And obviously, he can't.'

Beyond looked away and muttered: 'So it was just a test, huh? Explain why you acted like I would have, two years ago. Because that's not normal, Iris. Not at all. There is a reason I was sent to the asylum, you know.'

'I-I think it was just... well, ofcourse I was scared that he'd actually kill me. I guess I just needed to get that moment of stress out of my system, and apparently, this was the way to do that.' I lowered my head a bit, and whispered: 'You're not angry, are you?'

He didn't answer for a moment. '...No, I don't think I am. I'm just... well, you kinda freaked me out by acting like that, I guess. That's it.'

I hugged him, and though he didn't really return it, he did allow me to do so. 'I'm sorry, Beyond. Really, I'm sorry.' Then I let go of him again, and wrapped my arms around Madeline, apologizing again.

Just then, I heard a scream from the helicopter's direction. I looked at it, and saw that Light was now holding the Death Note. When I had been talking with Beyond, I had dropped the black notebook. Someone must've brought it to him and L.

Just great. One Kira had dissappeared, two former ones had returned.

We got rid of Higuchi, which was a real victory.

But Light Yagami was gone, too. Kira was back.

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**Which side will she pick; the good one, or the _I'm-a-god-so-kneel-for-my-amazing-powers_ one?**

**Ah, I'm not so sure yet. Anyway, next chapter is coming soon, like usuall!**

**Thanks for reading~!**


	35. Rem

**Chapter 35 is up, and so is 36~!**

**I hope you'll like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

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We were back in HQ the next night. School was again over for a while; Christmas was coming soon. Even in this world, it was winter. There wasn't any snow, like back home, however. It looked more like autumn, with all the rain and thunderstorms lately. But a vacation meant I could sleep longer, and stay here almost twice as long as usuall.

The whole Tasl Force was busy studying the Death Note and its rules, asking Rem questions all the time. I really wondered why the poor Shinigami hadn't killed them yet because of it.

And to think I was only gonna make it worse.

I asked her to come with me, and took her to a place where no one'd hear us.

'What is it you want?' Rem asked me as soon as we arrived on that spot. Her voice was as monotone as L's, if not worse. There wasn't even the slightest trace of emotion in it.

'I want the Eyes.' I declared, narrowing my eyes at her. 'I want Shinigami Eyes. And I know there is a deal to that; half my lifespan for it. Well, I refuse to give you half of my life, just so you know.'

She blinked at me with her one visible eye. 'Then how do you expect me to give them to you?'

Now this was the part I had been thinking about. The part where I'd have to try and convince Rem of giving me the Eyes anyway. 'Simple; you just do it. Because, Rem, this wasn't a question, it was a _demand_. Have you not watched as we caught Higuchi, a few days ago? He couldn't kill me, gun or notebook. I'm pretty much immortal. Plus, as you must have seen already, I don't even _have_ a name or lifespan.'

'What is your point?'

I smirked. 'I'm a Shinigami. And as a Shinigami, I have the right to have Shinigami _Eyes _as well as the immortality, don't you think? All I want, is for you to give me what belongs to me. No deals, no sacrifcing my lifespan, or anything. Just give me what I should have had since my birth.'

Rem was quiet, staring at me for a while. Then she nodded. 'Very well, I will give you the Eyes. However, should you be wrong, it will not take effect unless I _do_ take half of your lifespan.'

I could live with that. After all, there was one thing I was certain of: 'Trust me, Rem, I'm not wrong about this.'

For a moment, she stood motionless in front of me. Then she reached out with her bone-like hand, and gently laid them over my face. There was a brief, burning pain in my eyes, which told me enough.

It had worked. There was no doubt possible anymore; I was a demon, a Shinigami. A _God_ of Death. That's more than the god-wannabe Light can say, right? Oh, how I could have fun with this. I am more of a god than that self-proclaimed _God of the New World_, and I didn't even ask for it, or do anything for it. I was simply born that way.

Rem moved her hand away again, and I blinked open my eyes. Everything seemed to have a reddish colour, as though there was a thin layer of blood on everything. It wasn't such a huge difference from reality as in the anime, however. It still looked fairly normal. Like when, sometimes, everything seems to have a slight blue or greenish tint when you're ill.

I lifted my own hand now, gently pressing my fingertips just below my eyes. This was amazing. 'Thank you, Rem. I very much appreciate your... cooperation. I still have a long way to go, but I'm certain I'll be just like a real Shinigami one day. I am immortal, I have the Eyes, I have created a Death Note... what's next, flying?' I laughed softly. No, that was probably one thing that I _couldn't_ do. After all, I lacked the wings to do so.

Rem was quietly observing me now, but she did speak to me again. 'Do not thank me, Iris. I have only rarely heard about humans that were part Shinigami, and have never imagined to meet one. And now, I've met _two_, already. Your boyfriend, too, is part Shinigami. Not as much as you are, however. But he _was_ born with the Eyes.'

I tilted my head to one side, gazing at her curiously. 'Oh really? Well, I had already considered the possibility that Beyond was like me, yes, so that's no surprise. But how often does this happen, that there are... let's say, "Half-Shinigami"?'

'About twice, maybe thrice each century. It is, like I said, very rare. The first, as you call it, Half-Shinigami I had ever heard about lived thousands of years ago, in the Roman-age. He did die eventually, however. But only his human body did. His conscience, his soul, took on the form of a real Shinigami, and he has lived in our Realm ever since. He does not remember anything from his human life at all, but has been interested in their race ever since he became one of my kind. You may have heard about him, you may not. If not, you will probably meet him one day. This Shinigami's name, when he was human, was _Orcus_, which means _Death_, or _Underworld_. Now, he goes by the name Ryuk.'

My breathing stopped for a moment, and only when I felt the lack of oxygen becoming a nuisance did I remember to inhale again. To exhale afterwards, came a few seconds later. Ryuk. _Ryuk_ was originally a _human_?! Well, sort of human, anyway. Even if he had always been part Shinigami, he used to be some kind of human. Of all the names Rem could've said, like Sidoh, or Gelus, or maybe even that _Jastin-whatshisname_, it was Ryuk. I'll admit, I was more than stunned. I mean, I knew Ryuk thought humans were interesting creatures, and he liked human entertainment -games and such- and had a love for Earth's apples, I had never imagined that to come from a former excistence as a somewhat-human being.

While my mind was working hard to progress this, something else hit me. I turned o look at the white Shinigami, and said: 'Well, Rem. Now that we're having a conversation, anyway, I have another question. I know you are very protective over Misa Amane, but how far would you go to save her, if necessary?'

'I'd die for her.' Wow. Not a second of hesitation, but an imediate and genuine answer. 'Another of my kind, or _our_ kind, has already died to save her life once. And I would do the same. Misa is a... nice girl. Almost always cheerful, ready to see the bright side in everything. She has achieved a lot, as well. She has a good job as a model and actress, and has managed to take care of herself since her seventeenth, when her parents got killed. She is a truly amazing young woman, but her life has been worse than that of most. First she lost her family, then she almost got killed herself, and now Light Yagami... Don't get me wrong; I know Misa loves him with all her heart, but she deserves better. The guy doesn't love her back, and only uses her for his own little game. But because of her love for him, Misa is oblivious to this. I oftenly worry about her.'

This surprised me. I hadn't imagined Rem to get so open to me, tell me so much. And also, I felt kinda bad. I had almost hated Misa's character in Death Note, but now that I heard this... it was all true. Misa was, however hyper and irritating, a truly remarkable person. She has been through a lot, and yet she is her cheerful self every second of the day. Despite everything that happened to her, she was completely devoted to helping Light create a better world. She still believed the world could be saved from its rotten people. What a shame the "savior" is just as rotten as those he eliminates now. What a shame the poor girl doesn't see what Light really does, what he really is.

What a shame she is driven into such a depression in the end, she kills herself. What a wonderful person she could've become, a real example of the perfect, strong human, for the whole world.

I sighed softly. 'Rem,' I whispered afterwards. 'Why, may I ask, are you telling me all of this?'

The answer came only after several seconds of silence. 'Because I trust you, Iris. There's something about you... you're an honest person, a good person. Even though you have lied occassionally, you're honest. And I just knew you would understand me, if I told you this. You're like Misa, in a way. I trusted her from the start, as well.' She was silent again, and seemed to be thinking. 'There's something else... I just want to be able to tell someone, and you're the only one who'd listen to me, who'd understand, apart from Misa. But I cannot tell her this. The only reason I gave Misa her Death Note, was because of Gelus. He loved her, watched over her her whole life. Untill he died to save her. I did it for Gelus, because, truthfully... I loved him. Not in the way humans love eachother, but still. There was no one close to me but him, and then he died to save this girl. How could I not take over for him, make sure she was safe for him? But soon, I began to love Misa as well. She is a friend to me, maybe even like a daughter, someone I need to guide. I'd give my life for her, just like Gelus did.'

I nodded slowly. I had never looked at Misa this way, or Rem, for that matter. Whenever I heard that "Rem loved Misa", I always thought of it like the _romantic _kind of love, not this. Not that Rem thought of Misa as a daughter, and wanted to help her find her way in life. The _right_ way, and not the destiny Light had given her.

'Thank you, Rem... for both the Eyes, and for telling me this. I... have to return to the others now. But really, thank you.'

Rem dipped her head to me. 'No, Iris. I want to thank _you_. You listened. Something no one else does. I am grateful to you for that.'

A smile twitched at my lips, and I left.

This had been a good conversation.

* * *

**I think, for now, Iris will have constant "extreme mood-swings". From psycho to normal and back again, constantly repeating that progress, depending on the situation. Yeah, it'll be weird XD**

**Anyway, the next chapter might be... akward? Weird? "OMG-how-could-you?!", maybe?**

**Oh well, you'll (probably) read for yourself, anyway!**

**Thanks for reading~!**


	36. Uncalled for

**Warning; This chapter is short, and contains a lot of L and Naomi. As a paring.**

**But this chapter is pretty important for future chapters, so wether you like the pairing or not, please do read it.**

**Okay, that's done, let's get on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I came back in the main investigation room, when at the same time, Naomi came storming in as well, eyes blaxing like fire, and heading for L.

Oh, joy.

L watched her approach, sighed, and asked dryly: 'And what may be the problem _this time_, Misora-san?'

'You are, damnit! I just realised there are _two_ things wrong because of you!' Naomi answered, her voice very close to yelling. She had just opened her mouth to continue, when L spoke first.

'Let's just start with the one that's easiest to solve, shall we?' He was obviously extremely annoyed by her, like usuall. Sometimes I wondered who he hated most; Me, Madeline, Naomi or Misa. I just couldn't figure out who it was. Maybe it was different every day? Whatever.

Naomi narrowed her eyes at him. 'Fine. The _solvable_ one. I just realised that I... I love you, damnit!'

L tilted his head to one side. 'That's a problem?'

'Yes! Because you, unless your system is full of alcohol, simply do no-'

She wasn't given the chance to finish her sentence. L had stood up the moment she spoke, and was now kissing her. Again. Instantly, Naomi relaxed, and her expression wasn't even half as frustrated as just a few seconds ago.

I walked past them casually, trying to act as if I _wasn't_ watching every single move, and sat down at the desk, opening a file about the Death Note on a computer.

About twenty seconds later -damn, that wasn't really _short_, was it? I'm certain now that L is pretty damn serious about this now- the two parted again. Naomi was simply staring at L, unblinking, while he took a deep breath and nodded a bit to himself. 'Problem solved.' He declared after a few seconds of silence. 'So, eh... what was the other problem?'

'Huh...?' Naomi was still staring, when suddenly her head jerked and her eyes grew as wide as they were when she came in again. 'Oh! Right, I... eh, just come with me, will you? Kinda...private.' She swallowed, bit her lip and went to an empty corner of the room, looking extremely nervous, with a confused L following her. I watched them, wishing I could hear what Naomi had to say. Ofcourse I could use my influence to do that, but she said it was private, so I-

Oh, whatever! I'm just way too curious! _I want to hear them, though no one else needs to hear it. But I do!_

I had missed the first part, but the rest pretty much explained it.

'Well, that was... uncalled for, indeed.' L said quietly. He sounded rather shocked for once. Like, genuinly shocked. 'You're really sure...?'

'Unfortunately, yes. See what I meant when said this was unsolvable?'

There was a pause, then: 'Well, you could always-'

'No. I mean, I'm absolutely not pleased with this, but _that_ is something I'd never do!' Naomi protested.

Another pause. A longer one this time, but after half a minute, L spoke again: 'Well, I don't see any other way to solve this. So I guess we're stuck with it.'

'_We_? Seriously? Y-you really mean that?'

'Well, yes.' He answered. 'We both contributed just as much to it, so we should both live with the consequenses.'

'...Okay. Well, thank you, I guess.' And with that, they both returned and went on with inspecting the Death Note, acting as though nothing had just happened.

I did so, too. But I did not really work, though. The things I had just heard distracted me just a bit too much for that.

_Oh my Kami-sama, Naomi is pregnant, isn't she? Damnit, she is, I'm sure! Wow, L. I never thought you were capable of even thinking of doing stuff like that, but damn... a bit quick, maybe? No, scrap the "maybe". That was quick, period. But it was unplanned, wasn't it?... Oh, whatever!_

Fuck. And now I had _another_ reason to want to keep L alive. I mean, I never liked the idea of him dying -though I will admit his death was one of my favorite scenes in the anime- but how could I even _think_ about not keeping him alive now? This was probably the only chance of having somewhat of a normal live with a family and such he _ever_ had. I was not about to let that end because he was supposed to get killed soon.

But what Rem had just told me, that she was willing to give her life for Misa at any moment, I couldn't help but worry.

What if I wasn't here the moment it happened? How could I prevent it, then?

* * *

**Hooray for the trouble and problems~!**

**And L, Naomi... being drunk is not an excuse for forgetting that one important thing when you're... _having fun_.**

**So shame on you. Both of you.**

**Okay, next chapter will be up soon again!**

**Thank you for reading~!**


	37. Erase

**Ah, that last chapter was a surprise, wasn't it? No?**

**Hmm... darnit.**

**Anywayzz, here's chapter 37~!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

The next day, I had just finished my homework when the doorbell rang. Ofcourse I was curious who it was, so I went downstairs, even though I knew someone else would be there first. And when I came there, I saw that I couldn't be more right. Lisha was at the door, staring at the boy standing there, outside, talking to her in somewhat distorted English. Her face dispalued slight panic, and when she heard me, she whispered:

'Iris, wat zegt hij in hemelsnaam? Wie is hij?' (What in the world is he saying? Who is he?)

I smiled. 'Dat is een vriend van me. Ik neem het wel over voor je, oke?' (A friend of mine. I'll take it from here, okay?)

My little sister nodded and quickly went back to the livingroom. As she left, my smile dissappeared, and I turned to the boy standing in front of my house. 'Taro, what in the world are you doing here? And Ryuk, damnit... you startled me a bit, you know.'

The Shinigami began laughing his trademark laugh, while Taro just dipped his head. 'I know, Iris. Coming to your house was maybe not the best idea. But there are a few things I want to tell you, and somehow, I felt like I had to do so as soon as possible. Like you'll need it.'

What could he mean? I had no idea. But I was curious, so I beckoned him to go with me, to my room. It was one of my rules that, if I wasn't playing music -which meant the same as doing something on my laptop- no one could come there, because then I'd be making homework or sulking in a corner of my room, thinking about what an awful day I had in school, thanks to my classmates. So if, for once, I could keep it quiet in there, maybe I'd have a private chat with Taro, instead of Shayen and Lisha coming into my room and being oh-so curious again and asking questions 'till their throats hurt, like usuall when I had someone come over.

'Okay, what is it you wanted to tell me?' I asked as soon as we both sat down and I had closed the door. Without saying anything, he stuck his hand in his pocket and took something small out of it, holding it out to me. An eraser. Imediatly I realised that was as much a regular eraser as a Death Note was a regular notebook. Not at all normal.

'This is something called a Death Eraser.' Taro explained. 'You can use it to erase the names from your Death Note, and the people will actually be revived. Unless they've been cremated, ofcourse. And when they're buried, I wouldn't use it anymore, either, unless you want them to choke and die again. Which, I'll admit, can be fun, though.' A small smirk appeared on his face, and he continued. 'Ryuk has one for you. Or, I told him to give you one, actually. He would never give you one otherwise. But he does listen to me.' He turned to the Shinigami, who staring at something on my desk. 'Ryuk, can I have that other Eraser, please?'

The Shinigami didn't answer. Instead, he picked the thing he was staring at up, and turned to me, holding the paper in font of my face.

My blood seemed to freeze. Oh no, you can't be serious! It was a drawing I had made of Ryuk hugging a huge appple. My first attempt at drawing chibi. 'Pretty good,' He said. 'But I'm not that small. Or is the apple just that big? Please say yes!'

My eye twitched, and I stammered. 'Y-yeah, it was my intention to let the apple be enormous, and let you be your n-normal size. And thank you for the, er, compliment.' Okay, not what I expected him to say. Not at all. But hey, I didn't care. 'Taro said you had a Death Eraser for me. Can I have that now, please?' He was apparently so stupid, maybe I could change the subject back again.

And it worked. He held out a Death Eraser, which I happily accepted. Then there was something else I had to ask:

'Taro, how come you know my name and where I live? I never told you.'

'Hacked into the school's database.' Was his simple answer. 'Found a file with your picture, and here I am. Simple, right?'

I laughed. 'Yeah, well I don't know if hacking into my school's database is so simple. Truthfully, I don't know how to hack anything, and I don't want to know, either! Owning a killer-notebook is illegal enough for me!' Even if mine isn't even real to me. But whatever.

Ofcourse, that was when Amy and my dad came in.

'Hi, Iris. Lisha told us about that friend of yours. So that's him?' Amy said, and then turned to Taro. 'Hi, I'm Iris' stepmother, Amy. And who are you?'

Taro blinked at her, then looked at me. I nodded, and he introduced himself. 'I'm Taro Kagami. I'm a... transfer-student, they call it? What was the Dutch word for it...? Uitwissellingsstudent, that's it!' He smiled , and I couldn't help but be amused. Ofcourse the "_L_"s were pronounced as "R", making it sound odd.

'Ah, I see.' That was my father. 'Well, I'm Iris' father, Cornelis. Nice to meet you, Taro.'

And now Amy was smirking at me. 'We could've known that the first boy you'd bring home would be a Japanese one!' She joked. 'That has been obvious ever since you started speaking Japanese a bit!'

My face grew red. 'No, Amy! He's not- I already have a boyfriend, and it's not Taro! T-Taro's just a friend, like Leroy!' Damnit, how I wanted to bite my tongue off right now.

'Just a friend, like Leroy? So, he's a friend, but you do have a crush on him?' Amy smiled even wider now. 'And what is this about already having a boyfriend? Who is he, and since when?'

'And why did you keep it a secret?' Added my father. 'Please tell me he's not a punk, or a druggie, or-'

'No, dad! I'd never go out with someone like that!' I protested. 'Can't we wait with this conversation, at least untill Taro is home again? It's... embarassing.'

'First tell me what kind of guy he is, and then we'll leave.' Dad said, looking at me like he was the boss around here. Oh right, he was.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. 'Fine. He's a twenty year old ex-serial killer, alright? Please, just leave!'

Amy's eyes widened. 'Ah-ha! So it _is_ Taro!' She declared. 'Oh, and Iris, joking about dating with adult ex-criminals isn't funny, okay?'

I bit my lip and smiled. 'Okay. Sorry, Amy, dad. I won't do it again, I promise.' And with that, they left. Oh, how stupid my parents could be sometimes. For once, I hadn't lied about my personal life, and now they thought it was a joke, anyway! Not like they could've known it was real, though.

Great, but now I had to act as though Taro really _was_ my boyfriend! I'm so sorry, Beyond...

I sighed, and said: 'Sorry 'bout them, Taro. I think you might have to go now, and thanks for the Death Eraser. I'm sure it'll be usefull.' _Once I give it to Madeline_.

The boy nodded, and stood up to leave. Ryuk, however, was still staring at the drawing I made of him. He payed no attention to anything else, but thank goodness that he had laid it back on my desk again. Otherwise, Amy and dad would've walked into a room, seen a Japanese "transfer-student" sitting there _and_ a flying piece of paper. That'd be so awesome...

'Ryuk, we're going!' Taro said, to which Ryuk quickly picked the drawing up again and held it in front of me.

'Can I take this with me? I love apples, so I love this as well! Please?'

I stared at him, unblinking. Okay, maybe Rem was right. Maybe he really _was_ a human once. 'Uh, sure, why not?' I stammered. 'Go ahead, Ryuk. You can have it. And, eh...' I turned back to Taro. 'I guess I'll see you later, right?'

They left, and I imediatly went back to my room after going with them to the front door, inspecting the Death Eraser.

Oh, how I could use this thing. If only there was a way I could take it to the Death Note world, that is.

An idea popped into my mind, and I smiled.

I would just go to sleep with that thing in my hands. After all, there had been one night where I had been reading my Tokyo Mew Mew manga, and fell asleep while doing so. I had suddenly been on the streets of Japan, looking like an almost-adult, walking around with a child's manga in my hands. I had simply thrown it in a trash can the moment I saw one. Maybe it'd work, who knows?

* * *

**Well, see why I always add "or any other fiction mentioned in this" all the time? Because of this. Mentions of things like TMM. Or Warriors or Wolf's Rain for that matter. Although, I haven't mentioned WR yet, I guess...**

**Well, I did now.**

**Next chapter is up, too, and I do hope you'll like it~!**


	38. Failure

**And chappy 38 already!**

**I really hope you'll like this one, because I certainly enjoyed writing it~!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

That night, I came into HQ with Madeline and one very special item. A very useful item. A very real Death Eraser. My plan had worked, thank goodness.

What I came back to was also rather special. L, not being in the main investigation room. Not working. What in the world was going on here? Madeline looked at me, and raised her shoulders in a way of saying: _I don't know either._

The Task Force seemed shocked as they read something. 'Oh, he's kidding us! I mean, Ryuzaki can't be serious about this!' Aizawa complained.

Mads and I went to stand beside them, and saw what they were reading.

'Ryuzaki is planning to use the Death Note?' I gasped. Oh my god, I knew where this was going. I looked around the room, but couldn't see Light, either. It was gonna happen tonight, damnit. Tonight already!

Right that moment, Light and L came into the room, both drenched, even though they had tried to get at least a little dry already. Obviously hadn't worked.

'Ryuzaki, what is going on?' Soichiro demanded as the detective crouched on his chair again. 'Are you really planning to use the Death Note?'

'I am, indeed. I want to test wether the Thirteen-Day-Rule is fake or not.' L answered monotonously.

'What!? But you can't sacrifice lives like that!'

'We need just a little more!' L protested. 'Just a little more information! If we can figure this out, the whole case will be solved!' He then turned to the computer screen, where an old-English W was visible. Watari.

'Watari, is everything prepared for this?'

_'Yes, L. I will now-'_ He broke off, and a gasp could be heard coming from the old man.

'Watari? Watari!' For the first time ever, genuine panic could be heard in L's voice. And not a little bit of it, either. He sounded like anyone would if they witnessed someone so close to them dying. It was short, but heart-breaking to hear.

Then the screens went white, and the light's went out in the room. There was one clear message visible.

_All data deletion_.

It was now, it was happening. But I was panicking so much because of it, I could harldy concentrate on what happened in the room, let alone preventing that fatal heart attack. And before I knew, it happened.

'Everyone, the Shiniga-' L froze, his eyes wide. Then he fell from his chair. I now understood why they showed this in slowmotion in the anime. Everything _really _seemed to be in slowmotion.

'Ryuzaki!' Matsuda exclaimed as the detective hit the ground. But he wasn't caught by Light. No, Light had made a move towards L, alright. But I had been faster. 'What's wrong?!'

I was staring directly into his eyes, pain unhidden in them. I laid my hand on his chest, directly on the place where his heart was. It was racing, beating in no particular rythm at all._ Please, don't die. Hold on, L. Don't die!_

The moment I thought that, the situation changed completely from how it had been in the anime and manga. He didn't seem ready to give up at all, willing to leave.

He fought.

Naomi was now crouched beside us as well, taking L in her arms, exactly like I had held him a moment ago. I heard Soichiro exclaim an order to Aizawa. 'Call an ambulance, right now!' The younger police officer obeyed without question.

In the midst of the panic, I decided I had to do something else. I dashed out of the room, into the one where Rem was. Or had been, actually. There was only a pile of something like ashes left of the Shinigami I had respected so much, especially last night. And there it was, the thing I wanted to see with all my heart now;

Her Death Note.

I picked it up and hid it under my shirt. No one else would need to see this one. There was no way I'd let Light get his hands on yet another Death Note. No way.

When I came back again, they were carrying L to the elevator, to take him downstairs for when the ambulance arrived. I quickly went with them. L's body was almost completely limp by now, but I could imediatly see that he was still alive, and not about to give up. But I could also see that this was causing him agonizing pain. Okay, I knew heart attacks weren't exactly things that go by and you don't feel them at all, but I had no idea it was this bad.

_And I am causing this! I'm the one who wants him to stay alive!_

When we came there, Naomi sat down against a wall, L still in her arms. He was panting now, obviously exhausted by this. Naomi slowly ran her fingers through his hair, comfortingly. Then she whispered: 'Ryuzaki...L, if you can't... if you _have_ to, you can just let go, really. No one will blame you if you do. You've done your best to stay. But if you can't go on like this, just let go.'

L twitched a bit. 'N...no...' He managed to say between gasping-breaths. His voice was quiet and hoarse, and I almost couldn't bear hearing him like this. 'I'm n...not gonna...gonna leave you...'

I let out a soft sigh. I didn't want him to die. No one but Light did. But how could I keep on torturing him like this? That was... cruel. I felt torn between the two things I wanted to do now. I wanted him to stay alive, stay with Naomi. He deserved that, and so did she. But I just couldn't see him in pain like this, and know that it is because of me.

_When the ambulance arrives, I'll let my influence go on this one. _I decided. _He'll be in the hands of them, not mine. If he is willing and strong enough to fight and win this battle, he'll live. If not..._

_...he'll die._

I took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. That was fair, wasn't it? I think so...

Right now, my mind was on hold. I couldn't think properly anymore. Why had I been panicking so much I couldn't prevent this heart attack from ever happening? Now I was stuck with this. I simply felt like a torturer because of this.

Soon, the ambulance arrived, though it had felt like an eternity. Like I had said, the moment we were in there, rushing toward a hospital, I let the little attempt at concentration I had left, slip. I had no idea when I had said I'd go with him in the ambulance, along with Naomi, Beyond and Madeline, but I apparently had. Otherwise, I'd be in a car like the rest.

After a short while, the rythmic beeping of the Heart-Monitor changed to a constant beep, not a single moment of silence left.

It was over.

The paramedics tried to reanimate him, and the four of us here could only hope for the best. Only hope for the horrible noise to die away, and go back to the rythm it just had. Unsteady, but indicating his heart was still beating. That L was still alive.

But it didn't. It just didn't.

The next thing I knew, we were in hospital. Everyone gathered together, waiting for news. Preferably good news. That they had managed to save him. Unstable or not, I just wanted to hear they had managed to save him, that he was breathing again.

Minutes later, a doctor came in. His face told me enough. I leaned against Beyond's chest, who wrapped his arms around me, searching comfort in the sound of a beating heart. Of everything the doctor said, I heard only two words.

_He's dead._

* * *

**...yes. _This _is how I decided to solve the problem of "how to save L". Truth is, I have been planning this for over a week now. I guess I kinda lied everytime I said I had no idea what to write, sorry!**

**But the next chapters are coming soon, and thanks for reading!**


	39. Plan

**Oh, shame on me! Another short chapter, so soon after the other!**

**Sorry for that...**

**Anyway, these two chapters... well, what happens in them might be a little too obvious. But I hope you'll like them anyway.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

The following day, my mind was still on hold, unable to grope what had happened when I slept last night. Was it real? Had this not been a real dream for once? Had it really happened?

I had failed.

Later on last night, I had been alone with Naomi for a moment. That had been a heart-breaking moment. Ofcourse she had told L it was okay if he died, but she had lost a loved one for the second time, so short after the first. Almost exactly a year ago, Ray had died as well. I knew she was over that already, but now that this had happened, she just went through the pain all over again.

I felt so sorry for the poor woman.

Beyond, too, had been a completely different person after we heard about L's death. He was... quiet. Distant. I guess it was hard for him as well. After all, L had been a huge part in his life, had been an obsession for him for years. He was not anymore, ofcourse, but that didn't make it any easier.

The whole day, I had been just like that. Silent, oblivious to anything that happened. Not like something important was happening, for all I knew.

'Iris, dear,' My mother said. I had forgotten I was at her house since yesterday evening. 'What's wrong? You look as if someone has died, you know.'

I bit my lip. That hit a little too close to home. _Oh, mom... if only you knew._ I stayed silent, but lowered my gaze to the ground, not wanting to meet her eyes.

She simply hugged me, pulling me close. 'You can tell me anything, you know.' She whispered, to which I shook my head. So she added: 'But if you don't want to, you don't have to.'

I buried my face in her shirt, against her soulder, and before I knew, I was crying. I felt like a little kid now, but it also felt good, being able to throw this all out. We stayed like that for probably well over twenty minutes, untill my crying had died away and that was left were quiet sobs. 'T-thanks, mom.'

But with that said, I left and went to my room. Fortunately, my mother had fo once decided not to follow me, like she usually did when I felt down. Once there, I grabbed my cellphone and called Madeline.

_'Hi, Iris._' She, too, sounded the oposite of her cheerful self.

'Hi, Mads.' I said. 'Hey, you were with the rest last night, right? When I was talking to Naomi a bit?'

_'Yes. We discussed what to do from now on, and...' _She paused. _'When the private funeral should be. We thought it couldn't be too long from now, so we decided it'd be in four days. Enough time to get two coffins and spots on a cemetry. Plus, it'll be on a moment when we can be there as well. I supposed you'd want that as much as me.'_

'Yes, I do.' I took a deep breath, and said: 'Hey, Mads. Do you think the rest will notice it if L's coffin is empty? I mean, he weighs practically nothing, anyway.'

_'What do you mean?'_

'I have a Death Eraser. It, er... just look it up on the internet. Anyway, I plan to bring L back with it. If the coffin is closed, anyway, I think they'll hardly notice he's not in there, will they?'

It was quiet on the other side of the line, then:_ 'A Death Eraser? You can actually revive people with it? That's...' _She fell silent again. _'Iris, go for it! Go and bring L back to the world of the living, hah! Oh, I'd love to see Light's reaction when L attends his own funeral!'_

I couldn't help but laugh a bit. 'Well, that's not really what I had in mind, actually. Listen,as you may have noticed already, Naomi is going to have a kid.' Hell, anyone'd notice soon. It was hardly a secret anymore, as you can imagine. It has been well over two months since that Halloween night, after all. 'And I do not want L to continue working on this case and risking his life again, not with this. Naomi will stop working soon, too. I was actually thinking of keeping it a secret, make everyone else believe L is really dead. But in truth, he and Naomi will finally have a chance to live a normal life.'

_'Yes, that's really like you!' _Madeline laughed. _'But I agree. They really deserve that. L has known nothing but work, and Naomi's life is pure shit, too. Okay, Iris, like I said; go for it. I'll see you tonight.'_

'Yeah, see you then.'

We hung up.

I still had Rem's Death Note, and the Death Eraser. I could bring L back to life while no one else was there, close the damned coffin and then I'd be done.

I had failed last night, but who ever said you can't make your own failures right again?

* * *

**Next chapter, please~!**

**Yeah, like I said: these chapters are a bit too obvious. Those after it will hopefully get better again.**


	40. Resurrected

**Lalala~, obvious chapter number two!**

**At least this one is a bit longer, though still rather short. It's over a thousand words, so I don't have to be ashamed again, right?**

**L-fans can stop crying now, because apparently, some people have. Or at least one.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Two nights later, it was the day of the secret funeral of Watari and L. Okay, it wasn't really _secret_. After all, we had to arrange quite a few things for this. But at least it was private.

The bodies of Watari and L were both in a different room, the coffins still open. What a perfect oppertunity for me to make my plan reality.

'Well, everything's ready.' Soichiro said. 'Let's just close them, and get them outside to get buried then, huh?' His voice was quiet. This was unreal to everyone. We had worked for over a year with both men (well, they had. I was hear for a few months, ofcourse) and now having to bury them was, like I said, unreal.

And so we went off. Soichiro, Aizawa and Mogi to Watari's "room", together with Matsuda and Light, while Naomi, Beyond and Madeline went to L with me.

His skin was paler than usuall, another sign that he was really dead. I could almost feel the Death Note itch under my shirt. _You and the Eraser will do your work soon. Have some patience, lovely notebook._ I said internally. I watched as Beyond and Naomi stood beside L, staring at him for what they thought was one last time. 'So this is really it, then?' Beyond whispered. He was wearing a black suit, like all the others, and despite the situation, I couldn't help but think about how hot he was when I looked at him. His scarlet eyes were, however, not so nice to look at right now. Full of regret and grief. 'I'm sorry, L.' He went on. 'For the LABB Murders, and everything else. I'm sorry...'

Naomi, too, said one last thing, and then the two were about to close the coffin. But I stepped forward.

'Wait,' I said. Slowly, I pulled the Death Note from under my shirt, and saw their gazes grow wide and confused.

'What are you gonna do with that?'

Without answering, I took the Death Eraser out of my pocket as well. The I flipped the black notebook open and went through the pages, untill I found the one with L's name. I showed it to them, and said: 'L Lawliet. Ryuzaki. L. Whatever you call him, he'll be back.' I placed the notebook on a small table and began erasing the name. After I was done, I just left it there and went to stand beside L. It was shallow, but I could see he was breathing again.

And so did the others.

Beyond and Naomi gasped, and Madeline just stared in wonder. She was, besides me, the only one to have known this would happen. 'How is that possible?'

I stayed silent, but smiled. L was now twitching a bit, and slowly, his eyes flickered open. He stared at all of us for a moment, distant gaze, then closed his eyes an groaned for a moment. 'Oh, please...' He said to no one in particular. 'I know I have not always lived the right way, and I'm sorry for that... but surely it wasn't bad enough to get send to hell?'

I laughed softly, and so did the rest. Then Naomi said; 'Hell? Seriously?' To which L opened his eyes again. Now his gaze was focused on only Naomi.

'Okay, you wouldn't be someone I'd see in hell...' Then he turned his head and looked at me and Madeline. 'But you two... and Beyond...' He sighed. 'Okay, this isn't hell, but most _definitely _not heaven, either!'

'No, silly!' Naomi said. She was smiling widely, tears of joy in her eyes. 'You're not even dead!'

L was quiet for a few seconds, then sighed again. 'Great. So that means I'm still working.'

'Working?' That was Madeline.

'Well, yes. Unfortunately, my job is pretty much _literally_ my life. Being alive is the same as working.' Then L pushed himself up slowly, but imediatly dropped back again. 'Fuck!' He exclaimed, gritting his teeth. 'Okay, my back is pretty bad, I know, and it oftenly hurts. But _this_ is just insane!'

Beyond helped him up out of the coffin, and with every movement the detective cursed again. Well, he's been lying still for over four days now, and a coffin is probably not very comfortable. So it isn't exactly surprising.

As he stood again, L asked: 'So what? Did I not die at all or was there some epic resurrection just now? Truthfully, I guess it's the latter, seeing as that over there is definitely not a couch or a bed!'

I laughed. 'Well, it wasn't particularly _epic_, but I did resurrect you just now!'

Somewhat of a smile now appeared on L's face too. 'Ah, I could've known that, if anyone, it would be _you_ who's able to bring the dead back to life, Iris!'

I playfully pushed him on the shoulder, though it was maybe a bit harder than I intended to. He staggered and almost fell. 'Sorry! Anyway, what did you mean by that, huh?'

He was rubbing his shoulder now. 'Damnit, Iris. Every muscle I have is sore right now, so please refrain from doing anything like that from now on, okay? Well, what I meant is; you're creepy, close to supernatural for all I know. So if anyone, _you'd_ be able to do things like this!' He then turned to Naomi, his eyes widening as he saw her. Especially her belly, which had grown a bit fast the last week. 'Whoa, what did I miss?!'

Naomi simply hugged him and smiled. 'Just about five days of life, that's all.' She held him tighter now, and he returned it. 'I'm just so glad you're back.'

'Yeah, me too...'

The three of us, me, Mads and Beyond, just watched in silence. But eventually, I had to speak up, anyway. Aw, I really didn't want to ruin this moment! But I still had to.

'Hey, L, sorry to interrupt, but you're supposed to be buried now.' I said. Okay, that came out weird. 'So we'll have to brign that coffin outside now. You just hide somewhere, and then we'll see you after the funeral, alright?'

He and Naomi let go of eachother again. 'Oh, yeah...' L muttered. He was clearly not happy about it. 'Sure. So you're gonna make everyone else think I'm dead?' I nodded. 'Great, maybe I can finally stop that stupid work for once! I mean, I've already managed to make quite a fortune, so I don't need to work for a living anymore, anyway.' The... _ex_-detective seemed really relieved about this, not sarcastic. He turned back to Naomi. 'And don't you _dare_ get involved in the Kira-case anymore, either!'

'I wasn't planning to, L. Really!' She said, smiling. She then forced the smile to fade again and change back to a sad expression. 'Okay, now I'm ready to go! What about you guys?'

I glanced around the room. Beyond had closed the coffin already, and he and Madeline seemed ready to carry it outside. 'Yeah, I guess. See you later, L!'

We left, and so did L.

Well, this had been a success.

* * *

**Question time~!**

**Shall I write a seperate fic about L and Naomi together, after they have both left the investigation? I'd like doing so, but I'm not really sure if that's something others would like to read, actually!**

**So please, tell me your opinion, and then maybe I will, maybe not!**

**Okay, thanks for reading, and next chapters are coming soon!**


	41. The Living Dead

**Sorry that it's only one chapter again today. I might not update every day anymore, either, for a while. School just loves burying me under a pile of homework right now. I will try to keep updating as much as possible, though.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

'What a shame there won't be a name on the gravestone for L, hm?' Matsuda said after the funeral. 'I mean, we can't place an L there, because we don't want the world to know he's gone... but Ryuzaki would be wrong as well. Can't you just tell us what his name was, Rue?' He asked as he turned to Beyond, who shrugged.

'Yeah, but his name would make it clear who's lying underground there. After all, L was his real name. L Lawliet. One thing is true; there's no better alias than your own name, he made that obvious.'

'Yeah, I would never have guessed. I mean, who haves a letter for a name? That's just... what did his parents think when they named him? "hey, let's make it simple to remember! A whole name is too complicated, let's give him a letter instead!" Someting like that?' That was Aizawa. I couldn't help but agree with him. I'd never ever give a child a letter for a name.

But Beyond's answer made that thought fade away in an instant. 'They never thought anything. L never knew his father, though it is suspected the man is probably dead, and his mother died the moment he was born. He spent his whole life in several different orphanages.'

Now everyone fell silent. I knew L was an orphan, but I never thought he had been one his whole life. After all, he went to Wammy's House on his eighth. But soon we began talking again. About L, about Watari, and later about nothing in particular. And an hour later, we all left. I hoped L was still around somewhere, as I began to look for him together with Naomi and Madeline -Beyond had left together with the Task Force.

'I wonder where he went.' Madeline said after we had been searching for five minutes, which was a perfect copy of what went through my head right now. We told him to go somewhere, hidden from the rest, but where the hell did he go? In the end, the three of us had just walked in a circle, and ended up at Watari's grave and L's empty one.

'Just great, now how are we gonna find him?' I complained.

'Who, me?' That was definitely L's voice alright, but even though we were all looking around now, we still couldn't see him. Then there was some rustling in the tree behind us, some leaves that sprayed down, and only three seconds later, L had jumped down from a branch. When he hit the ground, though, he whimpered a bit. 'Hnng, I'll probably keep that stiffness in my back for a few days... But I bet you didn't think I could climb trees, huh?'

Naomi blinked at him in surprise. 'N-no, I certainly didn't.'

L smiled at her. 'Anyway, I've been watching the funeral. Afterwards, when all of you left, and Light stayed for a few minutes longer... oh, how bad he treated my grave! So disrespectful... Well, after that, I've been inside that building there, came across a mirror and... well, I've never payed attention to it, but my skin is so pale now, I scared even myself with it!' He laughed for a moment. Wow, dying really changes people, doesn't it? Or maybe he just allows himself this for the first time, now that he knew he would finally have a normal life. Well, as normal as it could be.

He then laid one arm over Naomi's shoulders and pulled her close. 'Anyway, Naomi... any idea where we're gonna go now? I can hardly return to HQ now, can I?'

Naomi seemed to think for a moment. 'Well, we can go to my old appartment, at least temporarily. We can look for a permanent place later, if that small thing isn't good enough. And I guess, within a few months, it won't be anymore! Two people in there is fine, but three is a little much already!'

'Even if that third one is seven times smaller than the average adult?'

'Yes, it's _that _small. But like I said, we can stay there for a while, so it's no problem.' Naomi said, scratching herself behind the head. 'The only problem is, I don't know if I still have the keys. Plus, I can't leave imediatly. So you just have to go... somewhere, while I look for those damned keys, give them to you, and then you can go to the damned appartment. I will follow soon after it.'

L's face became blank at that, somewhat dissappointed, even. He let out of sigh and muttered: 'Oh joy, gonna live on the streets untill you find that key... It'll be great.'

Aw, poor L. First he died, then he was revived and first thought he was in hell (if you'd have died, then woke up again and saw me, Mads and Beyond, wouldn't you think so too?) then he scared himself with that post-mortem look of his... which is actually a real post-mortem look for once. And now this.

I had a hard time holding in my laugh. With me around, his life during the Kira-case became even more of a hell than it was in the original story, didn't it?

Well, at least it would be longer, as well, and most of it would be better!

I gave a quick glance above his head, seeing the eerie white-red numbers and letters. Okay, at first they creeped me out, ofcourse, but I was getting used to seeing them now. Thank goodness I didn't have the eyes in the real world, though. I'd have seen the deaths of all my friends and family members, terrible! Now I really understood why Beyond thought of it as a curse.

L Lawliet

2

He would live for over thirty years yet. Now, fifty-seven was a young age to die, but at least it was a lot more than twenty-five, right? Now he finally had a chance to live a real life, instead of such a short one in which he only ever worked. And Naomi... Naomi would have quite a long life, too. Long enough, at least.

I smiled, happy for the two of them. I may have failed once, but the outcome afterwards was only better.

* * *

**That's it for today! Oh, and yes, if I do write a seperate fic with L and Naomi, Beyond will be in it as well! And Iris, and Mads... I guess.**

**...sorry animeaddict! haha~!**

**Hopefully, the next update will be soon again!**


	42. Lies

**Hah! I did it! I managed to upload two new chapters today!**

**Now I'm just plain happy.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

'We'll have to move out of this building soon.' The Task Force members were busy discussing what to do from now on. After all, we didn't have enough money to stay in a place this huge, like L had. Or has, whatever you want.

'Yes, probably...' That was Naomi, who looked a little nervous. 'And, er... I'll move back to my own old appartment for a while, and then somehwere else. As you can imagine, I can't keep working much longer. I'll give you guys my adress, though, should you ever need help again.'

Soichiro nodded in agreement. 'That's alright, Naomi-san. And thank you. We won't bother you unless we really need your help, I promise.' The others agreed to that. Well, we probably wouldn't need any help, so at least the chance that they'd find out L is still alive -or alive again, whatever- was minimal.

Beyond suddenly hugged me, pulling me very close. Because it was so sudden, it didn't surprise me much when he whispered: 'Say, Iris, where is Ryuzaki right now? I mean, is he close, or has he left this whole place completely?'

I kissed him shortly, then whispered back: 'I'm not sure. He's not very far, and for all I know, he's on the streets right now. That's what he said, at least. He and Naomi will live together once she leaves the investigation. But that's all I know.' I then looked around the room. No one had noticed this, thank goodness. That would have been rather disastrous, especially with Light and Misa around. Oh, and Ryuk was here, but that wasn't a problem. Turns out this wasn't exactly the same Ryuk as the one in my world, who was with Taro Kagami. Somehow, they were the same, yet others. Maybe Taro was from yet another different dimension? Probably. But then, my Death Eraser is also the only Eraser in this whole dimension, as they have never been mentioned in the real series. Oh, that's awesome! Not only am I a Shinigami, one of the few people who know L is still alive, and one of the only people who knows that Light is the world's greatest mass murderer.

I am the only person capable of resurrecting people.

Pure awesome.

Oh, and how I could have fun in the real world. After all, I was a Shinigami there, too. Just without the Eyes. And the Note. And the wings.

And everything else, with the exception of the knowledge that I really _am_, and a Death Eraser.

...less awesome.

But the immortality was still mine! No accident, no disease, not a single wound that would ever kill me. Age eventually would, ofcourse, but then I'd llive on as a real Shinigami in the good old Realm, where we all go one day. Oh, sorry. We don't _all_ got there. Just my kind. Kyahaha~!

Others will simply go to Heaven or Hell, or whatever. No, I will go after-live in the same place as all our favorite Reapers! Jealous now? Hah, sucks to be you then, if you are!

I forced these thoughts out of my head, because I knew they were awful. If I kept thinking like that too much, who knows how I'd end up! Like Light, maybe, or Mikami. I shuddered at that thought. No, I will never become like them, thinking they're gods (although Mikami only _shouts_ "God" all the time, whenever there isn't "Delete" coming out of that mouth of his) and such. Never.

Suddenly, a loud noise invaded my mind, and I got dizzy. The room, and everyone in it, started spinning in fornt of my eyes. I knew this feeling all too well by now, but I couldn't remember a time in which it came this sudden. I was just about to wake up, and still in the middle of HQ. The only problem, as you know, is that my body in this world completely dissolves the moment I wake up...

'I gotta go!' I said quickly as I moved away from Beyond, and ran into the hallway. Staying on my feet was hard, now that everything was blurred, but I had to keep going, at least to a place where no one saw me as I faded. But then, when I almost woke up completely, I heard a voice calling my name. In this world. _Shit!_ I exclaimed inwardly, and quikly went around a corner.

...

My eyes shot open, and the light shone bright in my room. There was still that loud noise that woke me up, but now, I recognized what it was.

Annoyed, I got out of bed and went downstairs, where Lisha was crying on the floor, holding one arm with her other. Apparently, she had fallen off the stairs when she went down. Shayen and Damian were beside her.

'I told you, I did not push her!' Shayen protested loudly.

'Y-you d-did!'

Damian looked at the two of them, slowly shaking his head. Then he bent down and inspected Lisha's arm. 'Well, at least nothing's broken, for what I can see.' He stated after a few seconds. Then he turned to Shayen. 'What happened according to you?'

Shayen looked down at the floor, a guilty look on her face. 'I, eh... She walked so slowly, I told her to speed up a little, and eh... poked her. Maybe a bit too hard.' Apparently, it _was_ possible for her to look more guilty than that, because now, she did. 'I'm so sorry.' It came out as a whisper. At least that meant it was true.

I sighed and walked past them, not giving one signle glance at either one of the three. 'Morning, everyone.' My voice sounded colder than I thought it would, and I almost added a "sorry". But then again, why would I? They were the ones who woke me up for nothing, weren't they? They made me run out of HQ like a rabbit on crack, straight out of the comfortable arms of my Beyond. What the hell would he think now? "And there she goes again, leaving me... acting like an idiot... like usuall" Something like that? Damnit. And besides, like Damian said, Lisha hadn't broken anything, Shayen had apologised, and if I heard right, Dad and Amy were coming here now, too.

So why the heck would I care? Pain was temporary, the girl would get over it soon.

Love should be eternal, but if I kept fleeing like this more often, it probably wouldn't be anymore. I mean, who'd want to have a relationship with someone who ran away all the time, not even explaining why they did it? Not me, for sure. Probably not Beyond, either.

Thanks, stupid little toddlers!

* * *

**Yeah, right, Iris... just keep lying to yourself, that you'll never be like Light...**

**You know you just called your sister "that girl", right? And "stupid toddler"... and you don't care...**

**But, go ahead, keep lying to yourself!**

**...**

**Sorry 'bout that.**

**Thanks for reading again!**


	43. That girl

**Ack, no! It's so short, it's hurting my eyes!**

**Sorry that it's so damn short... really, sorry.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

***Light's PoV***

Beyond had, again, hugged Iris out of the blue. Like he did ocassionally. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yet, I couldn't help but agree with the rest of the Task Force. Damn, that girl was strange. One moment, she would be like everyone else in here, the other, BAM!, psycho-status on. Lauging away like Ryuk always did, sounding like some sort of Beyond-Ryuk hybrid, with a bit of Madeline mixed in.

Had Beyond not been one of the filthy creatures I was trying to get rid of in this world, the one called a serial-killer, I would've asked him what is was he saw in her a thousand times by now.

...why do I stick with Misa, actually?

Oh yeah, because I don't want to be executed, and that bitch has unknowingly arranged it so that, if I leave her on her own, I will fucking die. Okay, so L was finally dead, so what? It's not like the others in here are completely brainless.

For a moment, I had not paid attention to the conversation we were having, but Ryuk started laughing. 'Kehkehkeh, it's too bad that detective is really dead now.' He said. 'Since he was the one with enough money to get this place, he must've been able to buy lots of apples as well!'

'...Ryuzaki never ate fruit, er...Ryuk, was it?' Aizawa brought in. To which Matsuda added: 'Except for strawberries! And bananas. And melon... and other sweet stuff. Actually, Aizawa, he _did_ eat a lot of fruit, besides all the other stuff. How the hell that guy was still underweight is a mystery, though.'

Aizawa rolled his eyes. 'Fine. But no apples.'

Ryuk's eye twitched at this. 'H-how can anyone _not_ love apples?!' He sounded genuinly dismayed. Had I not explained to him that humans have different tastes? Not everyone loves apples as much as he does, damnit! But ofcourse, the idiot simply refuses to understand that.

'I gotta go!' Came the panicked voice of Iris, suddenly. She had jumped to her feet and was making a dash for the door, which she reached within four seconds, and then down the hallway. I imediatly noticed she had dropped her cell phone in the progress, picked it up, and ran after her. Damnit, the girl was fast at the moment! Thank goodness I was not really an inactive person, because otherwise, I'd have had a hard time keeping up with her.

'Iris! Iris, you forgot your-' I stopped, halting instantly, my eyes widening at what I had just seen. Didn't I see it wrong, though? After all, she did just run around a corner. No. No, I was right, for sure.

Iris had just dissappeared in front of my eyes!

My mind working hard to comprehend this, I just stood there, not once thinking of going back to the others. How did she do that? How can a human suddenly dissappear into thin air like that?

...Was she even human?

After all, she couldn't get killed by Highuchi, wether he used a gun or a Death Note. He had said he couldn't see her name. Did she even have one, then? Ryuk never told me anything, either, but that wasn't unusuall for him. Yet, I have seen him give her a weird look once or twice, when we first met. What was wrong with the girl?

What is she?

I shook my head in order to clear my mind, and turned slowly. But my feet wouldn't move.

_I have to do something..._

'Light-kun!' I was faintly aware of Misa calling me. 'Light-kun, what's wrong?'

_I __**have**__ to do something..._

Now I could hear footsteps, softly coming closer. 'Light-kun, you're acting strange...'

_No matter what I must do to achieve it..._

I folded my hands into fists, gritting my teeth. Misa backed away, startled. 'L-Light! What is-?' I cut her off by slamming my hand against a wall, full force.

'Iris must _die_!'

* * *

**Nyeh, didn't expect that, huh? A Light-PoV?**

**Well, it is here, anyway!**

**Next update will be soon!**


	44. Changes

**New chapter is up~!**

**Okay, I want to say one thing first. I have decided that, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I will definitely update. Other days, however, I might not. Homework is _soooo fun_...**

**Anyway, that's it. Let's just get on with the story now.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

It was a nice evening, dark, and not too cold. Not warm either. The sky was obscured by clouds, and there was just the faintest light of the half moon visible between them, barely filtering through the window. Ofcourse, the lights were on inside the house, so that didn't matter.

Except for those in my room. I was shrouded in shadows, and nothing but utter silence met my ears. That silence, however, was constantly being overpowered by the overwhelming racket in my own mind.

_What will happen now? Now one knows. No one. I will see. See very soon._ I was curled up on my bed, staring out of my window, watching the clouds travel slowly across the pitch-black sky, letting the light of the moon wash over me every few seconds as it was revealed. What would I do now, now that I had no idea what would happen? I just didn't know. But like I said, I would soon see. Life went on, in every world I was in. Life went on, and I could only wait for what happened next.

_But I do not have to worry, whatever will happen. No, I don't have to worry. After all, nothing can happen to me, nothing! I cannot die, I cannot die! Nothing will happen, I am safe, whatever happens. I am safe. Because I am a Shinigami, a Reaper, a Demon. I am a God. God of Death. And I cannot die, I cannot get sick, I cannot get hurt. I can kill and revive, but cannot be killed myself. Does that not make me more powerful than any other human alive? More powerful than humans. I am not human, no. I'm higher than them, I am a divine creature. A God of Death._

My mouth twisted into a tiny smile, and a soft laughter escaped my lips. Right that moment, another cloud drifted in front of the moon, covering me in total blackness once more. But I did not care. Darkness was my friend now, after all. Darkness, cold, death and suffering. I enjoyed it, enjoyed it all. What else do you expect from someone like me? Not "warmth, love and light!", that's for sure.

Light. My smile dissappeared, and I narrowed my eyes. _Light. That self-proclaimed "God of the New World". What. The. Heck. The idiot shouldn't deserve to live, after calling himself a God like that. After all, he's nothing but a mere human, unlike me._

_Unlike me. I should be the Goddess of the New World instead, not him._ And there it was again; my laughter. Louder this time. Louder, faster, with more feeling to it. An eerie, skin-crawling, blood-chilling feeling.

Oh, how I loved this laugh. It reminded me of many good things. Bad things. But bad was good, and good was bad. And the other way around, ofcourse. Everything was the same. Everything. Talk of the weather, or talk of gorey deaths, I liked both of them. And I acted completely the same while hearing them.

Why would I change? Death was something I dealt with on a daily basis now, since I worked on the Kira-case. I have been woking on that for almost two years now. One year in the real world. My real world. Or, my former real world. They were both real to me now. Just as real. Time did not go two times faster in the other one, no, it went twice as slow in this one. I was not older there than I was here, but in here, I was younger. And, again, also the other way around. It was all the same.

In this one, it has been three months since the "death" of L, and so far, nothing else interesting has happened here. In the other one, it has been half a year. But again, nothing interesting. Nothing.

_Why does the time crawl by ever so slowly?_ I asked myself. _Once, it used to fly. But now... But now..._

_It crawls. It does not go by fast enough. It's all too slow. Too slow, way too slow._

I sighed, and a cold shiver went down my spine, the cold then seeping into my veins. I welcomed it with open arms. I loved this feeling. Everything around you becomes so warm, but yet, you are cold. And nothing helps. Nothing will warm you up.

Things had changed within my family; some people, whom I do not even know, had apparently died. Others were having parties for all sorts of reasons I do not care about. My close family had changed a bit, as well. My mother had started seeing someone she met in Ireland, in her childhood. I must say, I liked the guy. A bit. He could be funny, and was rather nice. My brother had left home, on his damned seventeenth, and was studying at a university now. Every weekend, he would come home, though. My two little sisters were eleven now, and thus only a bigger nuisance than they already were.

I was fourteen and three months old now. What a boring age, really. It was all the same as before, nothing new that happened. Well, for that, I'd have to wait for my fifteenth or sixteenth, I guess. Then you can actually get a real parttime job, instead of a boring paper-round each morning. I had tried it once, and hated it. Imediatly stopped.

And thus, life in this world was as boring as in the other. And to think that nothing would happen for another two years...

_I want some excitement in my life, a real thrill._ I decided. _But what can I do? What is it that I might like to spend my time on for two years, untill I can get back to my old life?_

I started laughing once again, louder than I had anytime earlier on this evening. My whole body moved on the rythm. 'Kyahahaha! Oh, I know! I know! Kyahahaahaaa~!'

I mean, Beyond must've really enjoyed making all those puzzles, right? He must've enjoyed it, otherwise he wouln't have spent so much time in it. And what could I do better in these two years, than practicing throwing knives in other people's chests, instead of grass?

Iris the Shinigami. The Reaper.

Yes, and that would be my alias.

The Reaper.

* * *

**Hmmm... not sure if she will. But who knows? Iris might just become a murderer!**

**Oh, and I am planning to make an AMV of her, and this story, once it's finished. Which I do not think will happen soon, but whatever. The song I plan to use is _Bussiness of Paper Stars_ by Hawthorne Heights. An awesome song, really. Plus, I've also started making one with L and Beyond, with the song _How you remind me_, by Nickelback. I animate it myself, no pictures ripped of the internet or scenes from the anime! I guess that hasn't been done much, has it?**

**Okay, thanks for reading again!**


	45. Nessa

**Hiya, long chappy today~!**

**Luckily, I didn't have a shitload of homework today, and a lot of motivation to write again, so here it is!**

**Okay, I just wanted to write something cute, and make it clear that Iris now has somewhat of a split personality. One moment, she normal, then BAM, psycho. Just like Light said, heheh!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

More time had gone by, but not as slowly as it did. No, I finally had something to work on, besides my homework. I was busy with it right now.

_The Reaper_. I thought. _Too cheesy, maybe? No, it does sound cool. But, what will I use? Even if I'm immortal, I do not wish to be caught. So that's something else to think about. Gloves... too easy. That won't work, damnit. Oh, and if I use a weapon... I can't even buy weapons, and even if I could, those would be too easy to trace. So, an everyday kitchen-knife, maybe? from my victim's house, ofcourse. Not my own, my parents would find that much out._

I shook my head. What was I thinking? I wasn't a murderer, and I would never be! The last few weeks, I had just been... I don't know, going crazy a bit? Or, more than a bit, maybe. But still, I might a Reaper, but I would never be _The Reaper_. Never. That was a... sich thought.

I am no murderer!

I stared at the floor as I sat upright in my bed, my hand on my legs. I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands to fists after a few seconds, internally scolding myself. _Knock it off, Iris! Stop this damned madness! Stop it!_ I let out a sigh, almost like a hiss, and let myself fall backwards onto my bed. It was late already, and I had to go back to my second life.

But sleep came later than usuall, and the feeling I had just now, only stayed with me when I came in that other world.

* * *

The new HQ, or whatever it was, was small and cold. It was so damn small, we couldn't even live there anymore, like we had done in the other one, with L. So, Beyond and I had gotten ourselves a small appartment not too far away from it. Somedays, we did not even go to HQ. There was nothing to do, anyway. The Kira-case was pretty much a cold-case now, no leads anywhere. Light was playing this twisted game very well, and it frustrated me to no end. How long before the action started? How long before there was movement in the investigation again? I asked myself this question many times over, and I knew the answer. I just wished I didn't.

Almost two. Damn. Years.

When I came "home" this night, I was glad to see Beyond was there, too. Only him, though. Sometimes, Madeline or someone from the Task Force visited us. No one was working on the case much now. Or sometimes we went to someone else's house. Just like friends do, actually. The moment I got into the living room/kitchen, I was greeted by one of Beyond's lovely smiles. This one looked even better than usuall. Obviously, something good had happened.

The moment he saw me, he laid the book he had been reading aside and stood up, walking over to me. 'Hey, Iris! I've been waiting for you, you know!' He greeted me.

I returned his smile, and tipped my head to one side slightly. 'Oh really? Why's that?' Okay, that bad feeling is already gone now. Thanks, Beyond!

'Weeelll...' He stretched the word like a child would, and had it not been him, I would've complained about it. But I only thought it was cute, ofcourse. 'We've been invited over to L and Naomi's. Because, two days ago, just after you left last time, I heard that those two have a daughter now. But I didn't want to go without you, so... wanna come with me?'

A warm feeling spread through my body. Oh, I could've known this was coming, as well. Perhaps it wouldn't be too boring untill Near and Mello finally came into the picture, after all. I leaned against Beyond, like I oftenly did. 'Ofcourse! I bet that little one is extremely cute! Do you know her name already?'

He chuckeled. 'Yeah, Vanessa. Apparently after an old friend of Naomi's. The first one she had, when she first went to America, if I remember well. Though, they already tend to call her Nessa, instead.'

_Aw, damnit. Nessa is such a cute name!_ I laughed, and then pulled Beyond by his arm, taking him outside, to his car. It was still strange to know that he could drive, and actually did so. I never imagined him to do so, when I first read Another Note. Even if he said _"I have never once been submissive. Not even to a traffic signal."_ which means that he _must've_ done so before. Whatever, he just did, and very well at that. What would we have done if we had to ask... Soichiro, for example, if we wanted to go to Naomi and L. That would be a disaster. No one knew about L being alive yet, and I wanted to keep it like that, at least for a while yet. And so we went on our way to our old friends.

'Have I missed anything else while I was, er, awake?' I asked after a few minutes of silence, except for the engine of the car, which I hated.

'Not really. The case is still pretty dead, and nothing else happened aside from the thing were heading to now...' And after that, it was quiet again. I hated the moments there was nothing to talk about, so I asked something again.

'And, eh, that book you were reading... good story?'

Beyond chuckeled now. 'Yeah, I guess. It was written from a serial killer's perspective, but damn, that author doesn't have a clue of what goes on in a real criminal's head. A good story, but sometimes it's pretty lame. But maybe that's just because I know how a real murderer thinks!'

'I have once written a story about an assassin, but I guess you'd find that one lame as well.' Deadly Nightshade. If I looked back at that story now, I could only think that, one day, I'd have to rewrite it. Because it sucked compared to what I wrote these days. Sometimes I'd come up with small stories based off of things I experienced here. Some I wrote down, others I kept in my head.

Minutes later, we arrived at Naomi and L's new place. It wasn't much better than the appartment they had before (I've been there twice or so), but it was good enough. It wasn't too far from the old Kira-case HQ, or the new one fot that matter, but they had kept a safe distance from everyone. The one who opened the door for us was L, who looked a little panicked. When he saw me and Beyond, however, his face lit up a bit.

'Ah, thank goodness! You two have come at just the right moment!' He said quickly. I imediatly understood what he meant; a baby's crying could be heard, even from here. Without waiting for a greeting, or any sort of response, he took us with him to the living room.

My heart instantly melted. I had been right, Nessa _was_ cute. Her crying, however, was highly annoying.

'Well, uh, you see,' L stammered. 'Naomi has gone for a walk just now, and er... I don't have a clue about how to get Nessa quiet again. Maybe you can help?'

Beyond laughed. 'Sorry, kids usually get scared by red eyes, so I won't be able to help you!

And after that, I felt two pairs of eyes burning on me. I backed away a little. 'W-what? Why are you looking at me? I don't know how to take care of children either! And she's _your_ daughter, L!'

'The poor little girl...' Beyond chuckeled softly, earning a glare from L, who then turned to me, saying one simple sentence:

'You're female.'

'So?'

'You're supposed to have some sort of instinct for situations like this, even if you've never had to use it before. Just... do what nature tells you to, 'kay?'

Now it was my turn to glare. 'Yeah, right. Nature tells me to leave this to her parents, and get the hell out of here!' Oh, ofcourse I wasn't gonna leave, but I did threaten to do so. I turned around quickly and went into the hallway, hearing a satisfying gasp-like sound from L.

'Please, Iris! I- I'll learn, really! But I just don't know how to handle this yet! Please!?'

I smiled at this. Wow, I had just gotten L to beg me for help. Awesome. I raised my shoulders and turned back again. 'Okay, just pay atention. And if I screw up, just forget hat you saw, got it?' That said, I went over to Nessa, held her in my arms and went to sit on the couch with her. 'Hey, little one! I'm Iris. How are you doing, huh? Something wrong?'

I went on like that for barely a minute, when she abruptly went silent again. She now stared at me with wide, dark grey eyes. Much like those of L, but with a little of the blueish-grey of Naomi in them, as well. A real mix. She just kept on staring, blinked a few times, not a single sound from her small mouth. Triumphantically, I turned my head to look at the baffled men staring at the scene. 'Hey, you were right; I _can_ do this!' I laughed. Slowly, Beyond and l went to the couch as well and sat down. L nervously looked at Nessa's face, who had slightly moved her head to stare at Beyond now, instead. Instantly, he let out a relieved sigh.

'Thanks, Iris. You really saved me just now. Or, my ears, actually. But, eh... that's it? Just talk to her and she gets quiet?'

I rolled my eyes. The idiot. 'Perhaps. It worked now, at least. But other times... maybe she'll be hungry, or tired, or she needs a fresh diaper.' As I saw him bite his lip as to not complain, I added amused: 'Yeah, you're gonna have to deal with that, too! I whish you luck, daddy!' At that last word, he shot me one of the most venomous, yet happy looks I had ever seen. On L's face, of all other people I knew. Just... a bit weird. His whole new attitude was something I still had to get used to. Curiously, I asked something I had been thinking about for a while now:

'Hey, L, why exactly did you stop working on the, ah... cases? You seemed to live for your job, you know.'

He considered that for a moment. 'Yeah, I loved my work. But it was... hard. Emotionally hard. Have you ever imagined what I must've seen in all those cases? Murder, torture, abuse, rape... it was a daily thing. Not to mention that I got into trouble myself a lot, too. Once, I've been shot a few times, but I already told you that. Er, kidnapped, when I was twelve. Tortured during that time, as well. And besides all that, there was the pain I saw on the faces of those who had lost a loved one, almost every day. I always said I'd keep going untill I died, however. And a few months ago, I did. Being ressurrected doesn't matter, I died. So I felt I was free to go, then.' He was quiet for a moment now, then smiled and went on: 'Well, I haven't completely given up the cases, yet! I've solved two small ones, one bigger case, and right now, I'm working on my biggest case yet.' He looked at Nessa, who was still staring at Beyond and then me, and back again. 'Code name: Daughter. One that will take years, more than even the Kira-case. Unless that one never gets solved, but... despite the fact that you're nowhere further to solving it than half a year ago, I still have faith in all of you. I guess. And if you screw up and fail, anyway, my successors will solve it for you! I bet Mello and Near will do a good job.' He closed his eyes and had the half-arrogant, half-proud look of _"After all, they had ME as a teacher!"_ on his face.

I rolled my eyes, opening my mouth to make a comment about it, but the only sound that came out: 'Ow!' I looked down at Nessa, who was now smiling and giggling away, as she pulled my hair a second time. For a newborn kid, she was pretty damn strong. And how the hell was she even smart enough to do this alrea- oh. L was her father, that's why. And Naomi was a smart one, too. This girl would be one of those creepy prodigies, a genius, for sure. When the child did that a third time, however, I quickly handed her over to L. Instantly, she made him her victim for poking and pulling a shirt. From the corner of his eyes, he gave me a look that said; _"Why, thank you!"_, but just extremely sarcastic.

I just smirked. 'Your kid. Deal with it.'

* * *

**Heehee, isn't she cute already? Nessa was named after my cat, btw. I was just cuddling Nessa a few days ago, and thought; How come I have never mentioned one of my pets in The Fantasy yet?**

**Well, I have now, or at least her name!**

**My other cats, Luna, Minie and Polly... well, I have mentioned them now! Totally adorable cats, really. Luna is an arrogant Maine Coon, and Minie was born as a street-cat, but she is so cute! And Polly... well, we found her abandoned in the garden of a house we moved into, along with two kittens. So we kept her! But she's... weird. Just weird. Inactive. And the opposite of social.**

**Yeah, I just wanted to talk about my pets just now, haha!**

**Anywayzzzzz, I hope you liked the chapter, and thanks for reading!**


	46. Girl's night

**Okay, there'll be a lot of filler-chapter untill the action starts with M&N, sorry!**

**But I will try to keep them entertaining as much as I can, I promise! Also, I did write this yesterday, and I did upload it, but I forgot to actually add is a chapter!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Later on that night, we had left again, heading to HQ. Naomi had arrived only ten minutes after Nessa had begun to annoy me with her behavior, imediatly managing to get the little girl to actually fall asleep. I guess that's something only mothers can do, then. I mean, I have tried to do so, only minutes before Naomi came, but I utterly failed.

Now we had just entered HQ, encountering only Soichiro, Light, Matsuda and Misa there. Mogi and Aizawa were probably home, and Kami knows where Madeline had decided to go now. But, no one was really busy with anything.

'Hi, everyone.' I said, sounding oh-so happy. Not. 'Anything new?'

'Nope.' 'Nothing.' 'Sorry.' Matsuda, Light and Soichiro spoke at the same moment, sounding just as motivated as me. My shoulders dropped, and I let out a sigh as I sat down on the couch, beside Misa. Beyond had been clever enough to bring his book with him, and without saying any more than 'Hi', got back to reading it. I looked at all the old files laying sprawled across the table; obviously, someone had made a brave attempt at finding something we had missed at first, but had failed anyway. 'Well... how many more murders in the past two days, then?' A lot, I knew that much already. It was always a lot.

'Seventeen. Four other deaths as well, but we're not completely sure wether we can assign those to Kira or not. The style wasn't really like him, but they were criminals. Let's see... one hung himself, but he might have chosen to do so himself. Two others died in their cells, apparently from some disease they hadn't detected before. And the other... heart acttack, but still not really like Kira, in a way. Could've been a regular heart attack instead.' Light explained dryly and monotone, sounding extremely bored. In fact, he sounded a bit like L had, in his two months of "depression".

After that, it all went silent again. Only the humming of a few computers, the rustling of paper as Matsuda absent-mindedly flipped over a few files he had taken from a huge pile of them, not particularly looking like he actually read even a single word. Minutes later, the silence was briefly broken by Beyond: 'Oh, please! You can't be- oh, you're kidding me. Seriously? You think a real serial-killer thinks like that?' He snorted, and then went back to reading. And that was pretty much it...

Half an hour of silence had gone by. Thirty. Damned. Minutes. I simply couldn't take it anymore. 'Aaarrrgghhh! I'm sick of doing nothing!' I suddenly screamed, imediatly catching everyone's attention. Misa squealed beside me, startled. That gave me an idea, and without really thinking it through, I pointed at her and declared: 'Misa! You and I are gonna have a girl's night, got it?!'

She took a few seconds to register my words, but then squealed again. 'Yay~! Finally, Misa-Misa is allowed to get out of here! Thank you, Iris-Iris!' She jumped up and hugged me in what was almost a trademark-hug for the hyper girl. I imediatly regretted my decision. But hey, who knows? Maybe we would actually have fun? More than we had here, that was certain. But... well, I wasn't a real girly-girl. In fact, I was pretty much a tomboy. Misa, however, _was_ utterly feminine in what she wore and did, and her interests. Surely, she was gonna have the upperhand this night, in whatever we were going to do.

Oh, joy. Now that makes me ssooooo happy...

As she bounced off, squealing happilly, she dragged me along by an arm. Oh, only the start was already fun, alright. Kami knows what she was planning to put me through now. After only a few seconds, we arrived in her room, and she practically threw me ontop of her bed. I did not like where this was going at all...

But the only thing she did was turn her TV on, and grab some DVD boxes. The type of movies surprised me, though. In a very, very good way.

Horror, gore and crime, or the first two mixed with supernatural stuff. Lovely. Like, really lovely, not being sarcastic in any way.

She inspected them a bit herself, then thre some aside, and held three possible choices in front of my eyes. Okay, they weren't really horror-movies, but I guess I'd still like them. Vampires, or crimes...?

'Ah, movies huh?' I smiled, scanning the boxes as I tried to decide. _Interview With the Vampire._ A great movie, one that I already knew. But seeing it twice wouldn't be too bad. It was a beautiful story, but also with more than enough action and blood in it. _Underworld_. Looked cool, too. More modern-day, and apparently with vampires as well as werewolves, or Lycans, as they were called in this movie. And the third one was _V for Vendetta._ That one looked great, too. 'Damnit, Misa!' I complained. 'I can't choose! Which one would you prefer to see?'

She sat down beside me, grinning. 'Well, if you are in a mood for vampires and werewolves shooting eachother with ridiculously large guns besides a rather... well, lame isn't the right word for it, but the plot isn't too awesome. The amount of action and the actors make up for that, though! Then I'd choose _Underworld_. _Interview With the Vampire_ is the story of a three-centuries-old vampire who tells about his life. Full of drama, and plenty of action as well. A very beautiful movie.' _It is, indeed._ Misa had described it almost exactly like I would've. 'And _V for Vendetta_ is... well, complicated. Roughly, it's about one masked man who calls himself V, who plans to destroy the Brittish Government, which is corrupt, according to him. But there are complications, obviously.'

Oh, damn. It was still hard! But I chose _V for Vendetta_. I had never seen it before, and if that was a better plot than_ Underworld_, than I'd prefer seeing that.

'Yay~!' Misa sang as she put it in the DVD-Player and again flopped down beside me. Lying on our stomachs, hand under chins, we watched as the movie started. It was barely playing for fifteen minutes, when I was already completely into the story. 'Wow... that music goes so well with exploding buildings, doesn't it?' I breathed, impressed by what I saw. It was music which I guessed was by Bach, or Mozart, or someone else from that time, and while it was playing, a whole law-court typo-building was blown to pieces, exactly on th rythm of the music. Beautiful.

As the movie kept playing, Misa and I were drawn closer and closer to the screen. Neither of us wanted to miss even a single thing.

When it ended, we were both half-asleep, but wanted to see _Interview With the Vampire _as well, anyway. And so we did. We were both staring at Lestat dreamily, the first moment he came in. Such a charming killer... Almost as much so as Beyond. Or, in Misa's opinion, Light. But Louis was pretty damn charming as well. And that little girl was just so cute and scary at the same time!

I would never imagined I'd say this, but...

Hanging out with Misa could be a lot of fun!

* * *

**Okay, those three movies, they're real, and a really recomend them! They are so awesome! V for Vendetta is one of my favorite movies ever, and so is Interview with the Vampire. Underworld is, well, not as good in my opinion, but still good entertainment!**

**So if you haven't seen them yet, you should really watch them sometime! (Vampire and V are two long movies, though. Both close to two hours or more, I think.)**

**And this was my advertisement for this today, haha!**

**I hope you like the chapter, and thanks for reading!**


	47. Split

**Short chapter, sorry!**

**Anyway, i do think this one will be entertaining. I loved writing it, that's for sure! I've had this idea for a long time now, and I'm glad to have finally wrote it down.**

**Oh yes, and there was another time-gap. There'll be many time-gaps untill I get to the part where Mello and Near join the story!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Months were going by, seeming only longer and longer everytime. Another six months. Another year. It doesn't really matter which one you prefer; they're both right, anyway.

Right. I was fifteen, or twenty-one, depends on the live I'm currently living.

And school. Fourth year, horrifficly boring, and my relation wih my classmates was still as bad as it had even been. Yesterday, just because I wanted to have fun, I took advantage of the fact that there was trouble with the lights in our classroom, and it was pitch-black there. I had walked over to behind one of my most hated classmates, and softly sang, adjusting my voice just a littly so he wouldn't know it was me. _"To buy the truth and sell a lie, the last mistake before you die, so don't forget to breathe tonight... tonight's the last, so say GOODBYE..."_ Yeah, Modern Myth by 30 Seconds to Mars. Truly an amazing song.

Today, however, he was late for class. Maybe I scared him off? Oh, that'd be so cool. Then again, our teacher was late, too. What was going on? My question was soon answered.

Grim face, my teacher came into the classroom slowly, and went to stand in front of the class. 'Everyone,' He said, his voice hoarse. 'I have some bad news. Yesterday, one of your classmates died in a car accident.'

_You're kidding me!_ I wanted to scream. I kept quiet, though. My face was growing hot ever so slowly as he went on. 'Robertn got involved in a car crash along with his parents and sister. Everyone else is safe, bot Robert had been hit very badly. The crash inflicted fatal damage to his skull, and he died in hospital this night.'

The whole class was silent, looking at him in disbelief. And so did I. Although, I had the feeling my stare was different than their's, somehow. After a minute of silence, I spoke up. 'Are you...are you serious?' My voice was quiet, filled with disbelief. But also something else.

Mr. Jason didn't seem to notice, however. He just nodded slowly. 'I'm afraid so, Iris.'

Extremely slowly, the corners of my mouth twisted, my eyes widening, breathing deeply and slow. Then a chuckle escaped my lips, very softly. Some heads popped up and eyes were burning into me, as my laugh got slowly stronger, louder, everyone was staring at me, a myxture of disbelief and shock in their eyes. No one spoke a word, but their looks said enough; _She's finally gone crazy._

And fuck, they were so damned right! Within a minute, I was laughing maniacally, psychotically. 'Kyahahahahaaa! Really?! He's _dead_?! Aahhhaahhhaaaa!' My voice was high pitched and filled with a sick kind of satisfaction, excitment. I _enjoyed_ this news more and more with every heartbeat, even more so because they were _my_ heartbeats, not Robert's. Oh no, his heart would never beat again! Even _if_ I had wanted to, there was no way I could ressurrect him. After all, his name wasn't in some kind of Death Note, whatsoever. I kept on laughing, and my classmates were getting scared now. Oh, they couldn't do me a greater pleasure right now. Me? Scaring them? Perfect, beautiful, delicious.

When I was finally done, gasped, '_Iris...?!'_, while shaking his head slowly, as if not believing this had just happened. I only bared my teeth in a sick grin, my eyes twinkling with contently. 'Sir, you just made my day.' I said slowly. I flipped my head to one side, raising my eyebrows. 'Now, I believe you want me to report to the principal, am I right? Because I _misbehaved _just now? Yes?' No answer, but i knew it was true, anyway. I shove my chair back, stood up slowly, and swung my bag over my shoulder. 'Well then, I think I should go then, don't I? I will. And really,' I added as I walked to the door, ready to undergo my punishment. I winked at him. 'You _made my day_ just now. Kyahahahaaa!' Laughing wildly, I made my way out of the classroom, into the corridors, and to the principal's office.

Hell, whatever would happen now, I didn't give a fuck.

This had just been too perfect to let this day be ruined by anything.

* * *

**Hmm, it's getting pretty damned obvious now, huh? That split-personality? Hell, it has been obvious for a while, but I think this was the worst moment yet, right?**

**Oh, I so enjoyed writing this! My first idea was that he got killed by Iris herself, as The Reaper (which I wanted to be written in Greek letters, just because it looks cool!), but I decided not to do that, as you can see. I'm considering to add some "The Reaper" stuff in this later on, though. Not sure yet.**

**I hope you liked this chapter, and thank you for reading!**


	48. introducing to-

**Longer chapter again!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Ofcourse I had gotten a punishment for my behaviour. Got suspended for a month. A month in which I got homearrest as well, after my parents had heard about it. But I didn't care at all. I had always hated the guy, always. He was the most annoying fuckhead I had ever met. And to think that once, I used to have a crush on him! Well, he was totally in love with me for four years, but then suddenly, it ended. At first, he didn't speak to me anymore, ignored me, almost denying my whole excistence. Then he did talk to me again, but it was only rude, mocking, insulting. And it had only gotten worse since.

Really, I can't believe that guy used to be a friend, years ago.

A... good friend.

...Perhaps, my outburst hadn't been right. No, it had been utterly wrong. But... but I couldn't go back in time and change it anymore. I never could. That was one thing that not even Shinigami could do. Done is done, there is no going back.

And that goes for my actions in the other world, too. I couldn't change what I had done after learning what I am, when Higuchi had tried -and failed- to kill me. After that... they try not to show it much, but I know the Task Force has been suspicious of me ever since, not trusting me as much as they used to anymore. and there are quite a few other things I wanted to change.

Fortunately, there were good things, too. Madeline and Beyond were, unlike the others, still as close to me as ever, if not more. Well, Beyond certainly was. After all, we lived together now, in a way. Even if I could join him only once every two days, we did share an appartment. And some other things... heheh, if my parents ever found out, they'd have killed me. Or, tried to. I mean, they wouldn't be able to believe that theur precious daughter had done such things at her fifteenth already! Or worse, the first time, I was hardly fourteen. Yeah, if they ever heard that...

Anyway, I was trying to make the best of everything now. I was back in the Death Note world, and had decided to take a little entertainment for myself with me. I hadn't read my Tokyo Mew Mew manga in years, and so, I had taken those with me the same way I had gotten the Death Eraser into this world. Also, since my parents had finally decided I was old enough for gorey stuff like that, I had been allowed to buy Another Note; LABB Murder Cases three months ago. Okay, they had never known I had been searching the internet for two whole days untill I finally found a pdf. file of it, and downloaded it to read it, when I was thirteen. That, too, lay in my arms as I fell asleep. I'll admit, my bed had never been this full with books.

And so I sat there, in our appartment, reading a shitload of childish manga. But damn, I still liked it. Exactly the moment I had finished volume four (which I had managed two buy second-hand a year ago, _finally_) and laid it aside, picking up volume five, Beyond came walking in.

'Hey, Strawberry!' He said, making me melt again with that smile of his. 'What're you reading?' He leaned in over my shoulder. 'Tokyo Mew Mew? Aren't you a little old for that?'

'Just so you know, I'm actually fifteen.' I said, before giving him a quick kiss on the side of his head. 'And you have no right to comment about it; you like Akazukin ChaCha!'

'Not anymore, silly! I used to like it when I was a child.' He protested, laughing. 'Anyway, how do you know that?'

I picked up another book from where it lay in the large pile on my lap, holding it between my thumb and index finger, like L always does. Another Note. 'You said so yourself, ofcourse. I only had to read it!'

His eyes grew wide. 'Is that the book you were talking about, months ago? If not years? Damnit, how did you get it in this world?'

I stuck out my tongue. 'Secret!' Then he snatched it out of my hand, flopping down on another chair beside mine, staring at it wide-eyed. His mouth was moving soundlessly, but i think he was trying to explain to me how impossible this was supposed to be. Well, I agreed with him, whatever he was trying to say. I mean, not everyone reads a book about themselve, right? Although, I did hope he wouldn't read it. Not that I would stop him if he wanted to. And so I didn't

He opened it, read the first page out loud. "_When Beyond Birthday committed his third murder, he conducted an experiment. Namely, to see if it were possible for a human being to die of internal hemorrhaging without rupturing any organs._" He was quiet, and nodded slowly. 'Yeah, I remember that one. Good thing I drugged her, otherwise she would've gone through an unnecessary amount of pain. I failed horribly, as you've... probably read.' He read further, intrigued by this. Before finishing the first page, however, he burst ou laughing. 'Really, who wrote this thing? "_No, no, no, no! Not this style, not this narrative voice! I'll never manage to keep this up untill the end! The harder I'll try, the more bored I'll get and the lazier the writing will be!"_ Oh, really, who wrote this? _"One of the world's most famous litterary bullshitters"_! Okay, that's definitely Mello!'

I laughed, too, and nodded. And so we kept on reading, he was completely absorbed into the book. 'I must say, that Mello is quite a good writer!' He commented after minutes. Then he went completely silent again, once again glued to the pages of the book.

And then I eventually came to volume six of Mew Mew. One of my favorites. Kish, my favorite character, had a bigger role in this one again. It was such a shame that he, and his two adoptive brothers, Pai and Taruto, had no real appearances in the sequel to the series, Tokyo Mew Mew A la Mode. It would have been cute, if he saw Ichigo again, how the hell would the two react? I guess Kish would've gone back to his Ichigo-obsession instantly, and Ichigo would have been fighting him off again, complaining about how she had "Aoyama-kun" already. I hated Aoyama, or Masaya, however you want to call him. He was such a nerdy tree-hugger and whatnot. Now Kish, he was awesome. Cute, psycho-like, had humor, totally devoted to the one he loved, even if it wasn't always visible. Oh, and something else I would've liked to see! Taruto and Pudding meeting eachother again! That would be so damn cute!

A while later, the doorbell rang. I waited, because I knew Beyond was always the first to jump to his feet, almost imediatly standing in front of the door, opening it for whoever was there. But he was still completely into the story -he was almost finished already, just a few more pages to go- so I went and answered it myself. To my surprise, Madeline stood there. She hadn't visited us in days.

'Hi, Iris!' She said, smiling. Without waiting for a reply, she hopped inside, to the living room. I just shook my head and followed her. My friend hadn't changed the slightest bit. When I came into the living room again, too, i saw her standing in front of Beyond, grinning widely, face almost against his. He didn't seem to notice at all, gaze traveling over the pages of Another Note still. He was then, after two minutes of that, at the last page, and read the sentence I was so afraid of he'd read. "_And a few years after his arrest, on January 21, 2004, serving life sentence in a California prison, Beyond Birthday died of a mysterious heart attack."_ As he was reading it, out loud, his voice grew constantly softer, speaking more slowly with every word. 'What the hell?! I was supposed to be dead by now?!' He exclaimed after a moment of silence. I went to sit beside him on the side of chair, wrapping my arms around the stunned man. 'I was... supposed to be killed by Kira...' He whispered. 'How the hell am I still alive? W-was that, in the book, a lie? Or...or...' He stammered, unable to finish his words.

I thought for a moment. Should I tell him? Yes. 'Well, no. You were indeed supposed to be dead now, for years already. But... but I stopped Kira. I prevented him from doing it. Just like I stopped him from killing Naomi, and L. Well, L died, but still. He would've died almost imediatly, had I not decided to keep him alive. The only reason he did die in the end, was because it was an agony, that heart attack. I didn't want him to be in pain like that, that's why.' Well, that came over my lips easier than I had thought, but it was still hard.

Madeline nodded. 'Yes, Iris has saved several lives already.'

Now, Beyond noticed her prescence for the first time. He quickly mumbled: 'Oh. Hi, Mads.' Before staring at me questionally. 'What the hell are you, being able to do such shit?' He breathed, stunned. I just smiled. 'Not from this world, that's all.' I whispered back. 'But let's just take a brighter topic now, 'kay? One that's not as depressive as this.'

Beyond nodded slowly, still unable to comprehend the contents of Another Note completely. Madeline, however, imediatly found something. 'We can tell you about the fanfiction in our world!' She exclaimed happilly, looking at me as though waiting for approval. I just nodded, and said: 'Yeah, want to hear how many fans you have, Beyond? And what they write about you?'

'Sure.' It was quiet and distant-sounding, but Madeline and I let the words tumble out of our mouths, anyway, even if he didn't pay much attention. We were talking about how much fanart there was about him, how well some people drew him -a perfect copy of L, but red-eyed, and blood all over. After all, that was the only Beyond Birthday we had ver heard of there. After a few moments, he was listening with unhidden interest. As we told him some people make comments like _He's mine_ or _I want him to marry me!_, he just laughed. And then came the part of fan_fiction_. 'You know, usually, people pair you up with someone.' Madeline said, to which Beyond only blinked curiously. 'Oh, really? Who?'

I smirked, but was nervous at the same time. 'Well, one of the most popular is you and Naomi together.' He smiled nervously, looking a lot like Matsuda just now. 'But... please, don't take it the wrong way, a lot of fans like Yaoi... you and L.'

His jaw dropped, his eyes wide and unblinking. 'S-seriously? What sick minds do people in your world have? If anything, our "relationship" should be like friends, enemies, perhaps brothers, if they want us to be close so badly! But... in a _romantic_ way? What the heck is wrong with your people?!'

'A lot.'

'Fangirlism is like a disease.' Madeline agreed, nodding oh-so seriously. 'A disease Iris and I have both contracted a while ago.'

Beyond glared at us in disbelief. 'No way... are you two fans of that... "Yaoi" stuff, as well?!'

I shook my head. 'Being a Fangirl doesn't mean you're a Yaoi-fan as well. Usually, it mixes, but not everyone likes it. I'll admit, I have read some stories involving a bit of Yaoi here and there, also with you and L, but I do not particularly like it much. And I do like the Naomi and L shipping better than you and Naomi, don't worry.'

'Yeah,' Madeline added. 'You shouldn't worry. L is the real victim in the Yaoi-fics. He is oftenly paired up with _Light_! Now that's sick. Or sometimes even Matsuda! There aren't much Naomi and L pairing-fics, but a lot with him and Misa. And Mello and Matt... the poor guys.'

At that, Beyond began to laugh. 'Mello and Matt? Really? Okay, I have met Matt only once or twice, very briefly, and I haven't seen Mello much more than that, either, but they're nothing but friends! Best friends, very close, I'll give you that, but _nothing_ like a couple!'

'What about Mello and Near?'

Now he really seemed like he could choke because of laughing so damn hard at any moment. 'M-Mello and N-N-Near?!' Was the only thing he managed to get over his lips.

I looked at Mads, now that it was obvious there was no way we could talk normally with Beyond anymore. 'You know, I have once heard about something that stated that Near was L and Naomi's son. Weird, huh? I mean, they didn't even know eachother when Near was already about... eight years old, give or take.' Maybe I shouldn't have said that one out loud, not in a way that Beyond could still hear it. the poor guy had now literally fallen off his chair, almost rolling over the ground with laughter. I agreed with him, though. That was a very weird theory someone had made up. Very weird indeed.

We kept going on like that for a long time, and when I finally woke up again, I thought I hadn't felt this good in a long time.

* * *

**Now, was that funny? Just a little? Athenafreak gave me this idea a while ago, and I thought is was good. Did anyone ever wonder what would happen if someone told the characters abotu fanfiction? I know I did!**

**Thanks for reading again!**


	49. Stories come with lies

**Another time-gap. Another one.**

**And in the next chapter, Mello and Near will be introduced~! I thought, well, chapter fifty is a nice chapter to start the "second-season", right? I don't know how long this story'll become. I mean, maybe it'll be like, ninety chapters?! It's gonna be long, that's for sure.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

More months had flown by, and now I knew it was coming closer and closer with the day. The moment where Sayu would be kidnapped, we would meet Near, and Mello, and the Kira investigation would be going on again like never before.

It was so close now. I could hardly wait.

The investigation was, right now, still on hold. So I didn't do anything yet, except for sometimes going to HQ, occassionall staying home, sometimes going to L and Naomi and Nessa with Beyond. Last time we went there, we took Madeline with us. She imediatly became friends with the now four-years-old girl. Nessa had grown very intelligent already, speaking like a teenager would -without the constant swearing- making it obvious that she would be as smart as both her parents were. The three of us were there again, now. It was the one place we could go to if we wanted to escape the Task Force or anything close to them, and everything else related to the case. Still, none of them knew L was still alive. We were pretty good at keeping secrets, it seems.

'So there is still nothing new?' Naomi asked us as we were all settled around the table. I shook my head, and asked: 'Anything here?'

'Nothing, actually.' That was L. Oh, right. Something _had_ happened here, a while ago. Naomi had forced L to get some _real_ clothes for once, and he had done so almost without complaining. No plain white shirts anymore, finally something in the right size. He had no bags under his eyes anymore, either, and his hair was less messy. He was almost like any other human now, something I had always considered impossible. Completely honest, he looked very good now. Like, something not only fangirls would like just because he was such an amazing character.

'Uncle Beyond!' And there came Nessa, hopping over to where Beyond said. Yeah, she had begun to call us "Uncle Beyond" and "Auntie Iris". Damn, I felt old because of it. But it was cute as well. The little girl was bouncing up and down, holding a sheet of paper. 'Look what I made!' She then held it out in front of Beyond, who smiled and looked at it. I looked with him over his shoulder. It was a picture of what I thought was supposed to be a black cat with red eyes. 'That's you, as a cat!' She explained happilly.

Damnit, why was the little girl so cute? I had never liked little kids, because they were noisy cowards and cried if you even only touched them, complaining that it hurt. But Nessa was different. The quiet type, the knowing type. She could be sitting at a table, pretending to be drawing or something, while she was actually listening to a conversation she should be way too young to understand. Yet, it never looked like the words we spoke were lost on her at all, she just heard every single one and knew what they meant.

Really a child of someone like L. She reminded me of a saying in Latin,_ Taceo, video_. I'm quiet and I watch. That was exactly what she seemed to be doing, everytime we were here. She was as creepy as her father at times, but that part wasn't even visible compared to her downright cuteness.

After getting a compliment from Beyond, Nessa bounced to L and climbed onto his lap. 'Were you talking about important things?' When L shook his head, she squealed in joy and asked: 'Can you tell me another story of when you were a detective, please?'

L smiled at her, and answered: 'Ah, why not? What would you want to hear, then?'

She was quiet for a moment, thinking. 'The case with mommy and uncle Beyond!' She decided after a few seconds. I had to keep myself from making a comment on that. Was that story not a bit too gruesome for a girl her age? Too... much?

L, too, had to consider this first. 'Well... that's a long story, Ness. And it's not really fun to hear. But I guess... I can tell you a bit, maybe? Is it okay if I don't tell you everything yet?' The little girl nodded, smiling wide anyway. Naomi narrowed her eyes at L, as to make it clear he could not go into any details here. But I do not think that was even necessary.

'Well, there was this murderer in America, in a city called Los Angeles, and I had to catch him. To do so, I needed help, though. And so, I asked your mother for help, which she gave me. As she was inspecting the crime scenes, where the people had been killed, she met another detective who was also working on that case. He called himself Rue Ryuzaki, but in reality, his name was Beyond Birthday.'

'Uncle Beyond!' Nessa squealed happily, making everyone else laugh.

'Exactly. Now, we were working together, the three of us. However, Beyond did not know I was on the case as well, and the other way around. Your mother had told me, ofcourse, but at first I wasn't sure who it was. Well, a few days later, it was the day that the fourth and last murder would be committed. The last murder was actually the murderer himself, who tried to commit suicide and make the case unsolvable like that.'

'And then?' Nessa interrupted him once again, looking at her father with wide, curious eyes.

'Your mother managed to save the killer's life, prevent him from killing himself, and sent him to jail. The case was solved because of her.' L finished. Or, so he thought.

'And what did uncle Beyond do that day? Did he not help you and mommy?' Nessa asked. And that was exactly what I, along with everyone else here, had hoped she wouldn't ask.

'Well, he...' L began, obviously not sure what to say. Beyond made it easy for him, though.

'I had to work on something else that day. I would have liked to help L and Naomi, but there was another, more important thing I had to do. But I'm not gonna tell you what that was.'

Nessa pouted. 'Okay...' And with that, she left again, off to do something else.

I leaned over to Beyond, whispering; 'Well done. You're a good liar at times, you know that?'

He just shrugged. 'Sometimes lies are better than the truth. Especially in this case.'

_This case._ Yes, that also goes for the Kira-case. Lies are better, easier than the truth. They were saver. How long had I not been lying?

Years. Ever since I first came here, my whole life has been one big lie.

* * *

**Okay, next week, I'll be freed of the horror called school (honestly, I do like it there, but there are just so much tests this week!) for the whole week, so I'll probably get to write a lot more! Though, I will also be busy with my animations, and I want to try something new; _being social._**

**Now that will be a real challenge, haha!**

**Thank you for reading, and the next update will be soon. Very soon. (and I guess it'll be a long chapter!)**


	50. Abduction

**Did I not say this would be a long chapter?... it's not, sorry. The nex one will be, though.**

**This is just one huge dissappointment for myself, this chapter.**

**Gomenasai!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

The Director of the NPA, Takimura, had been kidnapped, killed. And now, the phone was ringing. Quickly, we all grabbed headphones and listened along with Soichiro, who had answered the call.

And there he was; Mello. Right now, it had begun. The start of a whole new part of the Kira investigation. The third one, the last one.

'_Look,'_ Mello's voice came. '_About the trade; it's been canceled. Takimura is dead.'_ Several of the Task Force members let out brief, shocked gasps. They had not expected this at all. '_However, we have not completely given up on the trade after all. We have a new hostage ready for you. The notebook, for Sayu Yagami.'_

Everyone looked extremely shocked now. The call just went on, Mello kept on explaining things. But I did not hear. Because I had followed Beyond, the moment he had thrown off his headphones and had stomped out of the room, looking agitated like hell for once.

'What's wrong?' I asked him the moment he halted in the hallway. But he didn't answer me at all. Instead, he just smashed his fist into the wall with so much force, it wouldn't surprise me if he had just broken his fingers because of it. Startled, I repeated my question. Beyond had his shoulders drawn up, muscles tensed.

'T-that was Mello! I'm sure it was him!' He hissed through clenched teeth. He turned to me sharply, teeth gritted, eyes flaming. 'How the hell!? Mello would- Mello would never do that! He'd never- he'd never kidnap someone as a bargain for a notebook! I know that he's... impulsive, but this isn't like him at all!' He came a step closer, stifly, almost threatening. 'You knew this, didn't you!? You knew this would happen! Why have you never warned anyone?!'

I couldn't remember ever having seen him this angry, and quite honestly, it scared me. Stammering, I answered: 'W-well, you said you've only met Mello once or twice, right? M-maybe he's n-not like he a-appeared that time. O-or he has c-changed since then-'

'That's not what I asked!' He screamed. '_Why the hell didn't you tell me_?!'

'I couldn't! I really cou-' My protest was cut off, but not by more yelling from Beyond. My face turned sharply to one side as his hand collided with it, but I did not fully understand what had just happened imediatly. It took only two seconds to let it sink in, though. Slowly, I moved my hand to my jaw and cheek, which stung horribly. Beyond could really hit you with a lot of force if he was angry, it seems. But just why had he done that? He's never been like this before, at least not to me. Why?

'I...I'm sorry, Iris...' Came a soft apology. Was it stupid of me that I accepted it without thinking? Was it stupid of me that I hadn't been angry, or anything, for even one second yet? Only stunned, because it was so unlike him. I did not look up, I didn't utter a single sound, as I could see him get closer slowly from the corner of my eye. 'I'm really sorry, I... I shouldn't have done that...' Still nothing. Just... nothing. My mind was blank right now, empty. Beyond took another step towards me, softly, almost hesitatingly, held my face in his hands and kissed me. I did not pull back, but I didn't exactly kiss him back, either. What the hell was wrong with me just now? Even if I tried, I couldn't hold a single thought for longer than two seconds.

Eventually, I found my voice back. 'I'm sorry, too. I... should've told you. Just you.' He looked at the ground in response to that, looking rather ashamed. 'And... Near is on the case, as well. He'll get himself known soon, as well. That's it for now, though.' I added, and after that, the silence only got back. But that was the one thing I loathed right now, so I just chuckeled: 'Well, every couple has something like this at least once, right? This was the first time in five years, i think we've done great so far.'

'...yeah, you're right. But that isn't really an excuse.'

Not saying a sing;e word after that, we both went back to the others, who were busy discussing how they should get Sayu back. 'I'm going.' Soichiro declared. 'I'm going to LA and get her back.'

I looked at them, not feeling up to work, or anything else right now. And then, without thinking, I did something that might just be the most stupid thing I've ever done.

'That kidnapper, it's a boy named Mello.'

Everyone imediatly stared at me, confused. 'Y-you know him, Iris?'

I nodded to Beyond briefly. 'Yeah, and so does Jam-Fan over there. He's currently about nineteen years old, grew up in an orpahange. Wammy's House. The same one as Beyond and L.' My voice had never been this... cold before, and emotionless. It was like I was trying to copy L, but actually surpassed his emotionless-ness. Wow, what an acomplishment. I blinked slowly as everyone was staring at me, demanding more information. 'That's all I can tell you.' That said, I turned and left. I did not leave HQ completely, I just went to another room than they were in. I simply wanted to be alone now.

As I sat there, in complete solitude, I began thinking. Had this been wrong, stupid? In what way will this affect the original storyline? Hell, how could I think of this world as something with a storyline?! Has it not been long enough that I've been here, damnit? Can't I just drop the whole "it's just fiction come true" thing? It's not true! This world is just as real as my own!

As I kept on thinking of what to do now, a grin grew on my face. I had made a promise, I know, but are promises not meant to be broken someday? I think they are, at least some of them. And so I waited untill deep in the night, when Light and Ide, Misa and Aizawa had already left HQ. Only Matsuda, Soichiro, Madeline, Mogi and Beyond. Just... perfect.

'Guys, there's somehwere I have to take you.'

* * *

**La-dee-da, it's obvious where they're going~!**

***Sigh*... Okay, I'm losing my ideas for this fic, damnit! This is just one of those moments where nothing comes out right! Well, not really an writer's-block yet, but maybe it'll become one... darn it.**

**Well, I'm sorry this was such a... bad chapter. I really hope the next on will be better.**


	51. Reveal

**Like I said last time, this chapter is longer!**

**Oh, and there's no Mello or Near in this one, sorry. They will be there again in 52 or 53, not sure yet.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Without question, the few men had followed me, along with Madeline. Beyond was driving us all to our destination now, as they began askeing where the hell I was taking them for the first time tonight. Well, that took them long.

'First things first,' I stated. 'You may never, _ever_ tell anyone what you are going to see tonight.' I glanced outside. 'Although, maybe it'll be morning instead. But that's beside the point. Just never say a word about this, got it?'

They nodded, and seemed to be only more curious now. I smirked and only said: 'We're gonna visit someone, 'kay?'

Oh dear. I had promised no one would ever go there. No one. But... well, I just felt this was right. Especially since Light and Misa weren't coming as well. That was the brighter side of it all, right? Light and Misa would never know about this, unless Matsuda ran his mouth again. Soichiro wouldn't, and Mogi almosty never talked, anyway.

Now it was Beyond's time to talk, apparently. 'Say, Iris... I know I have already agreed to this, since I'm taking you all there, but... why did you suddenly decide to-?'

'Because I felt it was time they knew. It has been five years now, do you think he'd have been able to hide his whole life?'

To that, he shook his head. 'Neh, no way he could.'

We kept on going for quite a while, longer than usuall. Well, the HQ was farther away from our destination than our own place, but still. I had been right, though. It was sunrise when we arrived. As we all got out of the car, Madeline squealed in joy, while the others just stared at that house we had stopped in front of.

'This is it?' Soichiro asked. 'You wanted to bring us here? Why?'

I smirked again, and walked towards the door. 'You'll see.' I said, before ringing the bell. The Task Force came to stand behind me, Beyond and Madeline at either side. After just a few seconds, the door opened and a little girl stared up at us. 'Uncle Beyond! Auntie Iris! Oh, and Mady-Mads, too! Hi!'

My smirk turned into a genuine smile at this, and I leaned down to pat her on the head. 'Hi, Nessa! Are mom and dad awake, too? We have some visitors for them.' I said, pointing at the Task Force, who were exchanging confused glances. Oh, please! Who _wouldn't_ understand by now?

Nessa nodded. 'Yep! Dad's awake, mommy isn't.' Then she turned around an ran into the house, only to come back a few seconds later, pulling her father with her by the sleeve of his shirt. 'Nessa, would you please let go of me now? I can walk on my own, you know!' He laughed. But his smile faded the moment he saw the men outside.

An interesting scene to watch, really. Pure silence, even the air felt thick with astonishment, and the gazes of both the Task Force and that of L were wider than an olw's, staring at eachother, completely stunned. That lasted a minute, give or take, when I saw that Matsuda's mouth was moving soundlessly, making something probably should have been "Ryuzaki". And L turned to stare at me, openinghis mouth too. Unlike Matsuda, he did manage to make a sound, though.

'Iris. What the hell?'

I grinned. 'Oh? Why are you so sure it was me who brought them here? You're right, though.'

'Because Madeline would never think of this. And Beyond's an asshole, I'll give you that, but he might only _consider_ it, not actually _do_ so.' L answered, voice full of somewhat like anger, without being _really_ angry. It was more like "Why the hell did you do this?" Ofcourse, Beyond didn't let that insult go by easily.

'Hey! At least I'm not the only asshole in here, 'kay?'

'Oh, you're right.' L interrupted him. 'Matsuda's here, too. Just great.'

Beyond just rolled his eyes. 'Well, can we get inside or what? It's cold here.'

L sighed, and reluntantly, nodded. 'Sure, whatever...' Nessa glanced up at him, big puppy-dog-eyes, questioningly. 'Are you not happy to see them, dad? I thought, since they were with Beyond and Iris and Mady, they must be friends.' She asked, in such an adorable tone it made the whole Task Force -or the three of them that were here- go completely "_Aawwww"_. Something I hoped to never see again...

A moment later, everyone was settled on either a couch or a chair -or on L's lap, in Nessa's case- and they were all staring at eachother in silence. I chuckled. 'Well, shall we just start explaining things now, then?'

Instantly, the three members of the Task Force all asked: 'How the hell are you still alive, Ryuzaki?!' While L simply said: 'What are you doing here?' All at the same time. Now, that went well...

So I decided to step in. Again. 'He died, alright? Ryuzaki was supposed to be dead, I know!' I said to the Task Force. Suddenly, I heard Nessa's small voice whisper: 'Daddy was supposed to be dead? W-why?'

Oh, I really wanted to slap myself in the face now. Why did I not think before saying that? Nessa was staring at me with scared, dark-grey eyes, biting her lip. I took a deep breath, and explained: 'Well, you see, Nessa... I'm not surprised your parents never told you this, but L once almost got killed, before you were born. But I saved him, so he's still alive, okay? He... isn't supposed to be dead. That was just a wrong choice of words... sorry.' That did not make her get any other expression on her face, though, so Madeline stood up and walked over to her, smiling.

'Hey, Nessa, I know something we can do, okay? We can go playing together, a game or so, like last time, and then your dad and the others can talk, alright?'

Oh, Kami-sama bless Mads. This instantly made the little girl smile, and she squealed: 'Can we draw something again, too?'

Madeline nodded. 'Sure.'

'Yay!' And together, the two girls went off, leaving us to just explain things.

'Okay, where was I...?' I sighed, half to myself. 'Right. On the day of his funeral, I kinda ressurrected L. Long story, I'll explain it sometime later. And that's why he's still alive.' The only answer I got was three stares burning into me, full of disbelief and something like awe. And, ofcourse, L's agitated voice.

'And now, Iris, you may answer _my_ question; Why are you here?' He narrowed his eyes at the Task Force, who were staring at him as though he were a ghost. Well, I don't blame them. I mean, they have thought he was dead for five years, and now he was here suddenly, no longer that plain-white shirt anymore, no baggy jeans, no bags under his eyes, less messy hair, and on top of everything; he was sitting normally.

Before answering, though, I gave myself a chance to sit down as well, beside Beyond -like usuall. 'We are here because of Mello. You know more about him than any of us, and he's given us quite a bit of trouble just now.'

L rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed sigh. 'Riiigghht. Mello. What has he done this time?'

'He kidnapped Sayu, my daughter.' Came Soichiro's angry response, and he added: 'Ryuzaki, I must say I am glad to see you're alive, but also... you're new attitude is ten times worse than the old one.'

'Why, thank you.' The ex-detective muttered, before his head snapped up. 'Wait- Mello did what?!'

'Kidnapped Sayu in exchange for the Death Note.'

The young man leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling for a moment. Then a chuckle escaped his lips. 'Hehehehh... typical Mello. I mean, I never imagined he'd go for someone like Sayu just to get a Death Note, but still...' Then he shook his head, and asked: 'Any idea where he is, then?'

'Los Angeles.' That was Mogi. L only blinked at them once, staying quiet for a moment. Then:

'Oh, you're screwed.' Without giving anyone a chance to respond, he went on: 'If he is, indeed, in Los Angeles, I can only imagine he's gone to join some sort of gang, if not the mafia. And quite honestly, I think it's the latter. Now, the good thing is; usually, the mafia is quite honest when it comes to trading hostages. They don't kill them that quickly. The bad thing is, they usually kill their hostages _after_ they've gotten the bargain, along with the people they were dealing with. My conclusion; you're screwed. Trust me.'

I took advantage of the fact he was directly beside me, and punched him on the shoulder, recieving only a glare from him afterwards. 'You're not taking it seriously, L.' I stated. 'And you should, really.'

'I said I wouldn't get involved in the Kira-case anymore, or anything else, and thus, I won't.' L brought in, staring at me without blinking. 'And you completely agreed to that, untill today, it seems. Really, Iris, I litterally _died_ for the Kira-case, is that not enough? I'm not willing to die a second time, before I've actually had a life. Especially not with Ness here.' As I glared at him, he eventually just shrugged. '...Fine. I will tell you a thing or two 'bout Mello, but don't expect any more help, got it?' But, as he saw the glares of the Task Force and Beyond, he just rolled his eyes. 'Fine then! I'll help, as long as Light will never know that I'm still alive untill he finally gets executed!' Soichiro and Matsuda had just opened their mouths to say something to that, but L was again quicker. 'And no, I have still not given up on that theory! He's Kira, damnit. Just face it. There'll be a day in which I am proven right, and all you will think; if only we had listened to that freak, we might have solved this case years ago!'

Okay, maybe I had made a mistake in taking the Task Force here. L was definitely not pleased. "Not pleased" is actually a huge understatement. "Furious", although still a slight understatement, comes closer, I guess. But we might really need his help on this, to solve everything, to keep Mello and Matt alive as well. We needed his perfect little mind for this, I was certain of it.

But for now... 'Guys,' I said, standing up. 'I have to go now. But you just continue this and then I'll see you in LA, alright?'

Without waiting for a response -I simply didn't have the time for that anymore- I went outside and made it out of sight only just in time, before I faded and woke up.

* * *

**L is being quite difficult again, isn't he?**

**And about L; once I've finished this story (wow... that day will come, too. That seems rather unreal to me for now) I will write another Death Note fic, with L as the main character. Like, Lx...?**

**Now, my question is: what would you guys like more? L and Misa, or L and Naomi? Either one of the two, I'm not gonna make a whole new OC for this! But, if you have other suggestions -with canon characters, and no yaoi- I would like to hear!**

**Well, thanks for reading again!**


	52. Wammy's

**Whee~! A long chapter!**

**There will be a new introduction in this one, and a lot of my own theories about Wammy's.**

**So I hope you'll like it!**

**Oh yeah; Animeaddict; I'm sorry, but didn't I ask for something that _doesn't_ involve OCs? Really, sorry! Unless I get one hell of a good idea for one, I won't be creating another OC for a while!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

The night after I brought the Task Force to L, I had already been screaming inwardly that I wanted to wake up in that world, being in America, where all the others were. I had, unfortunately, missed all the action for now, though. But a new wave of it was coming soon, I knew that much; the raid on Mello's mafia base, Near -who had made contact with all of us for the first time, the day before (in this world, not the "real" one. I had missed that as well)- and later one, Mikami and whatnot. And eventually, us catching Light, Kira. Something I desperately wanted to see, for slowly, I had begun to hate Light, and that feeling of hatred only grew worse with the night.

At least Sayu was safe again, and Soichiro had finally calmed down again. And now, Beyond had started explaining things about the Wammy's House, and everyone else was silent, wanting to hear every single word he spoke.

'The Wammy's House is, as you know, an orphanage in England, Winchester, founded by Quillish Wammy, better known to you as Watari.' He began. 'And that was pretty much it; a normal, everyday orphanage. Untill the year 1987, starting in that year, it's whole purpose changed.'

'Why?' That was Matsuda, who was leaning forward as to not miss a single sound the scarlet-eyed man uttered. I had no idea something like this could be that interesting, really, but I had to admit that Beyond made this sound like it was the most thrilling story they'd ever hear.

He smirked before answering to Matsuda's question. 'Simple; L came there. He caused trouble after being there for hardly an hour, and within a week, Watari had decided it might be... _safer_, for all the other kids there, if he got his own room. Once he got it, he asked for a computer, gave Watari tasks like buying companies -which wasn't too hard for Watari, as he already had quite the fortune- and because of that, L had managed to double that fotune twenty times in about two years. And around that time, when he was ten, the kid solved his first murder case. One without any clues, and the police were ready to just give up and consider it a cold case. But no, little L didn't want that. He kinda saw it as a game. But, before he was even eleven years old, he was already a famous detective, and when he was fifteen, he establlished the name of "best detective ever". And from that moment, the Wammy's house was completely changed, as well. It only accepted the really smart kids, the genii, prodigies. We weren't allowed to use our own names anymore, got aliases. The best among us got letters, like L himself. I was B, number two in line to become L's successor. Because that was what we were being trained to become; successor of the world's greatest detective ever, should he die in one of his cases.'

'Second in line? Who was first?' Stupid question, Ide. Very stupid.

Beyond lowered his gaze to the ground, eyes full of sadness and regret. 'A, also known as Alternative. He was a true genius, almost exactly like L, when it came to wits. But... _almost_, wasn't good enough. Not for him... the pressure at that time, when the project had only just started, was still too high, and he... slit his own throat one afternoon.' His voice trailed off, and he took a deep breath before continuing. 'A was my best friend, so ofcourse I was more than just pissed that he killed himself because of L. That's why I started the LABB case, to get revenge on that filthy murderer by becoming an even better one. But, obviously, I failed. The two after me and A, C and D... they decided to run away, bur it only led them to their deaths. A few more "generations" have passed, and apparently, the project has finally reached it's goal; successors for the dead detective. One of the other _failures_ was K, also known as . I believe you may have heard of her; remember that virus, of a year before the Kira-case? K was the one who created that virus, in order to cleanse the world of humanity and restore the eco-system. A bit like Kira now, only did she try to kill most of humanity, not only the criminals. Although, if you think about it, that's still pretty much the same. That was a case that L solved, too, by the way. Did an excellent job there. Ofcourse, at the time, I was still in an asylum, not even half recovered from my suicide-attempt, but I later heard from him that he had to babysit two kids during that case, too. A girl called Maki, who was the daughter of a professor who had studied that virus before getting killed by K, and then there was a little Thai-albino kid, who hardly ever spoke, a mathematical genius, only about ten years old and imune to the virus. That kid was later brought to Wammy's House by L, and given a name, an alias. Near. You guys know him as N, ofcourse.'

The men gasped. 'That's N? A little kid?'

Beyond shook his head. 'Neh, he isn't _ a little kid_ anymore, even if he's not an adult yet, either. He's sixteen, you know. Anyway, Near is first in line now, followed closely by Mello, and then a third; Matt. But he won't be much of a problem. For all I know, the guy wastes his life by playing games and smoking cigarrets, falling in love with his car, yet never going outside unless he really needs to. Yeah, Mello, as you know, is the real problem. The guy apparently has anger-management issues, an inferiority-complex and doesn't care wether he has to sacrfice lifes to beat Near and become number one.'

Everyone in the room became quiet now, looking at eachother as though wanting to discuss the matter further, just not knowing what the heck they'd say. Untill Soichiro found his voice; 'Thank you, Beyond. At least we have an idea of what we're dealing with now.'

Aizawa nodded. 'Yeah, damnit. I mean, a mafia boss is already bad, but one that's probably one of the most intelligent people on Earth? Now that's bad.'

'Indeed! Damn, Ryuza-' I glared at Matsuda, cutting him off and demanding; 'Ryuzaki...what?'

'Ryuzaki might have known how to fix this, but...' The idiot quickly corrected himself. I could only guess what he was about to say, ofcourse, but I'm pretty sure it was something along the lines of "Ryuzaki was right when he said we're screwed with this!".

Oh yeah, another thing; Kira, or rather Misa, had already told us that we had to go to Mello's mafia base on October tenth, to get "our" Note back. I must say, even if it was a mechanical voice she used, Misa sounded extremely convincing. Now I really understood why she was an actress. Right now, it was October the fourth, so that would be six days. Three, in my reality. So Madeline and I could be there as well. Finally some of the real action we wouldn't miss!

* * *

Later that night, when it was already morning in this world, Beyond, Madeline and I were the only ones in our temporary HQ, along with Ryuk. I think I knew where this was going, seeing as Ryuk was staring at a few apples with longing eyes. Oh yeah, I knew very well what was going to happen.

But for now, I just talked with my good friend and boyfriend, waiting for it to happen. 'So, Beyond, how was your life in Wammy's, aside from the, er... A-issue?' I was just curious. I had never asked him about it before, because I thought it might be a rather painful subject, but since he had talked about it earlier, anyway, I just thought it wasn't that bad at all.

'Well, it was fine.' He answered, smiling at the memories. 'Wammy's used to be beautiful, you know. I don't know what it's like now, but back when I lived there... there was a lot of land around it, the biggest garden you have ever seen! There was somewhat of a "private forest" there, too, and a lot of small, natural pools, in which we usually swam on hot days. The lessons we had were not average things, though. Ofcourse, we had maths, biology, psychology. But a lot of unusual things, too. Like laws, crimes. We learned how criminals thought, being taught by ex-criminals themselves, sometimes. And what was more rare, only for the ones with letters, was a special class once a week, with L as the teacher.'

'L acted as a teacher there?' Madeline gasped, smiling as wide as ever. 'That's so cool! But wasn't he a bit young?'

'Yeah, he started doing so when there were four letters, which you already know, and I was on of them. He started doing so when he was fifteen, and stopped after A's suicide and my... well, you know. On his eighteenth.'

'How old were you when you went to Wammy's?' Oh, Madeline was in the question mood now, not me.

But Beyond didn't seem to care about that. 'When I first came there, I was nine. L was still the just-not-ordinary kid then, but only a year later, it all started. I was no longer Jason, as my parents had named me, but I became Back-up, number two in line to become Lost one, only being beaten by Alternative, but leaving Decieve and Copy behind me.'

Lost one. Yes, I had heard once before that that was what L stood for. Lost one, and Last one. L L. L Lawliet. Lost one because he was like a fallen angel, a divine creature come to Earth to get rid of crimes and make a better place for all people. Last one, because however much people might try, they would never be like him, and he would always be the last one standing, even in death.

Why D was short for Decieve, I'm not sure. Maybe because he or she was supposed to _decieve_ people, should that kid ever become the new L, and make them believe he or she was the real one? Maybe. That was the only explanation I had for it.

Without warning, Ryuk suddenly stood up and walked over to the table, reaching his hand out to grab an apple. He froze just before doing so, though, making the three of us look at what had stopped him from working on his addiction.

'What's up, Ryuk?' Madeline asked. Oh, apparently she didn't see what I saw, and Beyond, too. A new Shinigami had just flown into the room through the window. But neither of the two people knew I had Shinigami Eyes, so I had to act just as confused.

Ryuk, ofcourse, didn't answer Madeline's question. 'Sidoh!' He gasped. 'What are _you_ doing here?'

'I want my notebook back.' Sidoh, the stupid idiot, stated in a whining tone, to which Ryuk sighed and got his apple, anyway.

'Well, sorry to tell you, but I don't have it anymore. Long story, you won't understand, even if I told you, so I'm not even gonna bother.' He said. This didn't satisfy the brainless pest, ofcourse.

'Tell me where my notebook is!'

'I don't have it anymore! I don't even know where it is, so stop nagging me!'

'Then give me back my notebook!'

This went on for a about a minute, untill Beyond decided to step in. 'Okay, guys, just tell me what the problem is, maybe I can help.' As both Shinigami opened their mouths, he quickly added: 'One at a time! Sidoh, you begin.'

The Shinigami stared at him for a moment, blinking. 'Wait a moment... you can see me?'

To this, Beyond rolled his eyes. 'Have you really noticed that just now? I mean, I've just talked to you, remember? Or are you _that_ stupid?'

'Oh, right... Well, I went to the Shinigami King after I lost my Death Note, and then he said Ryuk had claimed it as his own. By that time, I already knew Ryuk was in the Human Realm, just not where. I have been searching for a while, and finally found him. He has my Death Note, and I need it back! Shinigami need at least one Note each, you see.'

Beyond nodded, and then pointed to Ryuk. 'Your turn.' Wow, he was treating them like two little kids who had just fought, while the parents -or whoever was in charge of them at the moment- weren't sure yet who to give a punishment. But hey, it was working, so I didn't care if it was weird or not.

The taller, black-and-white Shinigami shrugged. 'Well, he's speaking the truth, henh henh! But so am I; I have no idea where it is. If he can't deal with that, it's not my problem. He'll have to look for it himself, I do not care what happens to either him or the Note.'

Turning back to Sidoh, Beyond declared: 'Well, Sidoh, I agree with Ryuk. It's true that he stole your Death Note and brought it into this world, but it's also true that he doesn't have the slightest idea where its location is now. So you'll have to find it yourself, sorry.'

Sidoh did something that looked like pouting, whined again and flew away, leaving me amused, Beyond rather frustrated, and Madeline simply confused.

'What the hell happened just now?'

I laughed. 'You remember Sidoh, from the series? Well, I guess that was him!'

Madeline gasped, then pouted, too. 'Aww! I wish I could've seen him! He was so cute and stupid...'

Yep, that's pretty much how this night went, as we all had to wait for the raid on the mafia.

* * *

**Chapter 53 will most likely be that attack, so I hope I have some inspiration for it, then!**

**Well, thanks for reading!**


	53. Action

**Okay, this chapter is short, I know. But, it's the start of a schoolless week now, so I have decided to upload two chapters again! And, the next one is longer, way longer!**

**Disclaimer; I do note own death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

It was October tenth now. It was _the_ day. Finally, some adrenaline in this life. I was dressed in full-gear, ready for a battle, carrying the biggest gun I had ever seen in my life. Everyone else did, too, except for Beyond; he had claimed to be better at knife-throwing, and had taken some razor-sharp daggers with him instead. Some things had changed due to his prescense, some things hadn't. Soichiro wouldn't get the Eyes, for they didn't need it to know Mello's real name, Miheal Keehl. Beyond had remembered it well, and told them. But it _was _still Soichiro's task to finally confront Mello and kill him -if necessary. This evening, just when we left, I had given a short glance to his lifespan -something I usually didn't do with anyone, unless I wanted or needed to know. There were two people in particular of whom I hadn't seen the lifespan yet, and which I didn't ever want to see; Madeline and Beyond. Knowing when they'd die would be way too painfull.

Talking about lifespans, I had also seen Light's for the first time in my life. He had again given up his notebook, but making sure that he'd keep his memories afterwards. I really hated seeing that his lifespan was long. Honestly, I had loved his character. When it was still just a character to me. Now, I just couldn't help but see the blasted murderer and liar he really was.

"_Are you all ready to go in?_" He asked us now. Everyone nodded, and gave short, one-word answers like "yes", "absolutely". "_Good. Now, Beyond, please keep your Eyes on the photographs of those mafia members. Their names and lifespan should soon disappear. That's when you can go in._"

'Got it,' Beyond answered, taking out those specific photographs. Two of them had very short lifespans already, so that they'd die now, wouldn't be a problem. _1306_ and _592_. Very short. Only seconds after I had been able to lay my eyes on them, the names faded along with the lifespans, and I was almost already on the move when Beyond gave us a sign. 'Come on, let's go!'

We all rushed into the building, weapons ready to use. It was almost surreal, like I was in some sort of game. Oh, if only it _was_ a game. Really, I was glad to finally have some action, some excitement, but I couldn't deny being scared as well. Soon enough, we got into what seemed to be a main room, where to member of the mafia were, grabbing the Death Note from under someone else's body. It took Matsuda not a second of doubt before he shot them both, together with Ide. Alright, they were good with guns, I'll give them that. As the two fell to the ground, dead before they even hit it, we ran upstairs and grabbed the notebook. Or, more specifically, Madeline did. 'Light, we have the notebook. There doesn't seem to be anyone else from that mafia gang in here anymore -at least not alive.'

"_Alright. Well done. But still, we haven't found anyone that looks like Mello yet, have you, Beyond?"_

The young man shook his head, and answered: 'No. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if he fled.'

"_I still want you guys to go look for him, through the whole building, if necessary. We have to find him._"

I gritted my teeth and barely surpressed a growl. The fuckhead just couldn't be happy with what we had done so far, could he?! Our whole mission was to get back that Death Note, we did, and now he wanted us to go off and kill someone who was hardly an adult? Like I said; fuckhead.

I paired up with Beyond and Madeline, like usuall, after we had handed the notebook to Soichiro, should he find Mello before we did. And ofcourse, he did.

'Mello hasn't fled,' I said to Beyond as we ran through the building in search of the blonde chocolate-addict. 'He's still in here, and-' I was cut off by a sudden, loud noise. The whole building shook.

'What the-? An explosion?!'

It stopped as sudden as it happened, and then, out of the blue, came the voice of Mello. 'I have just blown up both entrances to this building. This was just a warning. Stay where you are now, don't move, or I will use the explosives again. The next time, it will take down the whole building, and everyone inside it.'

Beside me, Beyond tightened his grip on his knives, teeth bared in a growl. 'Damnit, Mello!' We had no choice now but to stay here, otherwise, Mello'd definitely kill us. How frustrating...

'If we hadn't given that notebook to Soichiro, I'd have written down his damned name already!' Beyond said, almost yelling. I moved closer to him, partially leaning against his shoulder. 'You wouldn't have been able to kill him, anyway; the face you remember isn't the face he has now. Remember, he's grown up, too.'

'Well, couldn't you do it, or Madeline?!'

'No. We've only seen his anime- and manga-version. We have no idea what he looks like in real life.' Madeline said. And she was right. No matter how much we had watched the series and read the books, there was no way of knowing what they'd really look like. Beyond had been the biggest surprise, but actually, everyone looked a little different from what I had first expected them to be. And besides, even if we _could_, I think neither Mads or I would kill Mello.

It was not long before we heard gunshots, and we all rushed to the source of the sound. And there he was, Shoichiro, on the ground, wounded, his lifespan growing shorter with the second. And Mello, standing beside him, gassmask already covering his face. But I could still get a glimpse of it, though. Ice-blue eyes that pierce your soul, that's the best description. He slowly lifted the detonater, thumb already on the button. Suddenly, I heard a furious shriek behind me, and Madeline jumped on Mello, trying to get the detonater out of his hands. But it didn't work. Only two seconds later than it should have been, the wholle building exploded, and I found myself in the middle of a whirlwind of fire and stone.

And I could only hope for it to be over soon.

* * *

**The next chapter will (hopefully) be rather sad, if not just plain tear-jerking! I did my very best with it, and I hope it came out right.**

**Sooooo, on to the next chapter!**


	54. Good-bye

**Please don't kill me after this chapter, I've already tortured myself enough just by wrinting it!**

**But I managed to write it without crying, and that's better than what I had expected.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I opened my eyes, and saw nothing but a ravaged terrain where there was once a mafia hideout, and half of the place was still on fire. My teammates were on the ground beside me, and not one of us was unhurt. I struggled to get up, glad to feel that I had not broken any bones -not in my legs or back, at least. Looking around, I saw that some of the others were already back on their feet as well, the rest still working to do so. But Madeline -I didn't see her. Panicking, I started calling her. As they began to get what I was doing and why, Matsuda and Mogi joined me. Soon -to my relief- we got an answer. 'I'm okay! But Mello...' Only a few seconds later, I spotted her, sitting between a few rocks beside Mello, who was trying to get away, but was stopped by Mads. He was bleeding badly from the left side of his body, obviously fighting to stay conscious. It wasn't hard for Mads to keep him where he was. In fact, she only had to hold his arm to prevent him from getting away.

I couldn't help but wonder; just how would this affect this world and what would happen in here?

'L-let go of me, you bitch!' Mello snapped, his voice slightly trembling. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd pass out soon.

Madeline shook her head. 'No! You'll die if you're left alone now!' Oh? So she did not do this to apprehend him? She was... worried?

Okay, that was a bit unexpected. But I did understand. Looking at the young man, who was barely visible beneath his own blood, I just had to feel a twinge of worry, too. After a moment of hesitation, Matsuda agreed to that, too. He walked over to Mello and Mads, and helped the blonde get up. Mello didn't let him do so without protesting again, though. 'N-...Let go of me...'

The four of us went back to the others, who were all gathered around Soichiro. One glance at his lifespan told me enough; two hours and twenty-seven minutes left. All the others still had their normal, long lifespans. Everyone... but Beyond. Only just more than four hours left... Oh, please, no!

Unlike the others, he was leaning against a large rock, breathing hard, a line of blood trickling out of his mouth. 'Beyond!' I exclaimed, running to his side, wrapping my arms around him and holding him tightly. 'Beyond! Oh, god... no... no, please...'

His mouth twisted into a little, pretty weak smile, his eyes rather vacant. 'What's up?' His voice was hoarse, and he was speaking slowly. 'Iris, what's the matter?'

'Y-you... l-lifes-span...' I couldn't bring any full sentences over my lips, stammering as I was fighting back sobs.

'My...lifespan? You can see..?'

I opened my mouth to give an answer, but the only sound that came out was a soft wail. So I just nodded instead.

'Since when do you have Shinigami Eyes?'

I swallowed, and tried to find my voice back. I finally succeeded in doing so. 'S-since five years now... your l-l-lifespan... it's o-only f-f-four hours...'

For a brief moment, he stiffened But he relaxed again soon after. 'Is that so? Well, at least I can't say it's been a bad life, with you around...' He raised his arms slowly, hugging me back now. His hold was weak, trembling ever so slightly. 'You know I love you more than anything, right?'

I held my face to his shoulder, nodding slowly. 'I-I love you, too, Beyond. I love you..'

It was going too fast... too fast. My mind was only focused on Beyond as we went to a hospital, everything else was blurred. Just a few things really got through; Soichiro's condition had only been worsening, and he was as good as dead already. Mello, though still breathing more steadily than I had imagined he would, had indeed passed out. Madeline was taking care of him now.

And Beyond... it was probably internal damage that was gonna kill him. He had told me how a rock had hit him just beneath the chest during the explosion. I was spending as much time close to him as I still could, now that it was gonna be over soon. As we arrived in that hospital, we all went to different rooms. I was done quite quickly, for I only had -amazingly enough- a few scratches and a lot of bruises. Some of the others were as lucky as me, like Mads, but some had broken arms or legs, too. Soichiro, Beyond and Mello were all taken to the ICU as soon as we arrived there, and much to my dismay, I wasn't allowed to go to Beyond yet, as they were still tending to him now. But his lifespan should still be about three hours, so I probably would have a chance to see him again this night.

But Soichiro, he was dying right in front of my eyes right now. Not that I payed any attention to anything. All I wanted was to be with Beyond now. All I really wanted. Soon, the heart monitor's sound became one, constant beep, before it was turned off. My mind on hold, vacant look in my eyes, I just left, and walked through the corridors of the hospital. Soon, something actually caught my attention. A person was half-running, half-stumbling through the hallway, obviously trying to get away.

_Mello..._ I realised. _Should I..? No. Let him go. He'll be alright, even if he's still not even half recovered._ The young man didn't notice me as he escaped this place, but I had decided, somewhere in the back of my absent mind, to just keep standing there.

What would I do now, now that I'd lose Beyond? What would I do? How would I be able to go on without him? How-

My thoughts were cut off by the sound of a doctor's voice behind me, saying the only words I wanted to hear right now. 'You're Iris den Weerden, right?' I nodded slowly. 'You can go to Rue now. We've concluded that, whatever we do, there is a chance of less than ten percent that he'd survive, and he asked us to not do anything himself. I'm very sorry.' I nodded again, and ran off to Beyond's room, the fog in my head slowly lifting again.

And there he was, in a hospital bed, still awake and alert, his mouth twisting in a smile as he saw me. 'Hey, Strawberry.' For a moment, we just stared at eachother, our eyes saying more than words ever could. This, however, did not make hearing his voice again any less perfect, as I slowly got closer. 'So it's really over now, huh? Well, at least the last six years have been perfect, since I got to spend them with you.'

I bit my lip, still not saying anything, and slowly lay down in that bed, too, close beside him, on my side, and planted my head on his shoulder. He turne his head to look directly in my eyes, and wrapped the arm I was leaning on around my shoulders, holding my hand with his own free one. Our faces touched, our eyes barely an inch away from eachother. And we just lay like that for a while, silent. Untill I broke that silence. 'I love you, Beyond. I love you so damned much...'

His eyes softened, and he whispered back; 'I love you, too, Iris. More than anything.'

With the knowledge that this was truly the last time I'd see him, I just couldn't take it anymore. Tears welled up in my eyes, and a sob broke from my lips, soon followed by even more of them. I could feel Beyond shift beside me, and he gently laid his fingertips on my cheeks, wiping away my tears. 'Hey, sshhh... it's okay. Don't cry, Iris... I don't want you crying to be the last thing I'll ever see. I'd rather see you smile again.'

How could I not do so now, after hearing those words, spoken so softly, so gentle? I blinked open my eyes, seeing his scartlet ones fixed on me, a smile on his face. I managed to smile just like him, as memories flooded my mind. The first time we had met, what a surprise it had been, and how I could only think about what a gentleman he was, compared to what I had expected. How he was my very first real friend in this world, and soon became so much more than that. I could tell him everything, and he always believed me. He was the only one I had ever told who I really was, even if there were a few details I kept aside, and he accepted it completely. We had helped eachother through harder times, always had someone to find comfort in when we were down. There was no one in this world that I trusted more than him, no one that I had ever loved more.

And there were just a few things I wanted to say to him now. 'Beyond...' I began, whispering. 'No matter what anyone may think, no matter what you have done, you are the one person closest to an angel I have ever met.'

He chuckeled for a moment, but broke of in a short bout of coughing. 'An angel, you say? No, Iris, I'm a murderer. I'm a demon, I've been born as a demon, and I've always been one.' I blinked at his scarlet eyes, which were blurred and paler than usual now. Well, he was partially right, but still... 'And only Hell will welcome me, after what I've done. But I don't mind, for I've already been in Heaven during my life.'

I shook my head. 'No, Beyond. You'll go to Heaven, trust me. And the won't just welcome you, you'll be given a special place there. You'll be honored for everything you have done to repent your crimes of the past, because no one else has ever done so much to make their old actions right again. No one deserves it more than you do.' He blinked at me, then slowly got rid of the already-short distance between our lips, and kissed me. I could easily feel now, that he had practically no strength left in his body, and that it'd be over soon. But these last moment couldn't have been any more perfect.

We spoke no more after that last kiss, and eventually, we both fell asleep, holding eachother tightly.

But I would be the only one to ever wake up again...

* * *

***snif*... yes, I decided to kill Beyond, for the sake of a good plot, which we get clearer later on. Not an easy decision, 'cause he's my favorite character in this, apart from Madeline. He shares a good second place with L and Nessa in here!**

**...please don't kill me!**

**Anyway, thanks for reading again, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway.**


	55. Triggers

**No, don't worry, I'm not planning on not having Beyond in this story at all anymore! Indeed, I am going to get him back as a Shinigami~!**

**The only reason I let his human-version die was as a trigger to something else... heehee~! *evil smirk***

**Sop yes, he WILL BE BACK~!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

The following day, I was at school again. All morning, I had been quiet, not saying anything more than "'morning" and "see you after school" to my parents and brother and stepsisters. I didn't really do anything in class, either. I just... didn't feel up to anything. This was noticed by my teachers and classmates, ofcourse, and just as I expected, I eventually got a comment about it.

Only, it was the wrong comment, from the wrong person.

'Hey, Iris!' Indeed, the wrong person. Another one of my classmates, and I really hated her. 'What's up with you? Got bad grades for once?' Oh, that _tone_. How I wanted to strangle her now, because of it.

'No, my grades are fine, thanks.' I muttered back, not looking at her.

Then what happened? You're so down today! Never before have you acted like this, even though you're the weirdest person I've ever met!'

'I lost my boyfriend last night, that's all.' Ah, why would I lie about this? It's not like I was going to tell them the _full_ truth. That the one person I loved more than anything had died last night, in another dimension, and that he used to be a serial killer before he became a detective, trying to catch another killer, a mass murderer. Who the heck would believe that?

But ofcourse, that bitch just got worse now. 'Your _boyfriend_?! How come someone like you even _has_ one?! Well, it doesn't surprise me that he dumped you, then.'

And that was it. That was _it_. I stood up, swift as Beyond's old pet snake, Sanguis, and gave her a strong kick in the stomach, making her fall backwards on the ground. I roughly placed one foot on her chest in order to keep her there, and spat: 'He did _not_ dump me! He _died_!' The look of fear in her eyes was the one thing I needed now, and was more than glad that I got to see it. From behind me, another one of my classmates tried to pull me off of her, so I just gave a backwards kick with my free leg, while still standing on top of my other classmate. By now, I had the brown belt in Karate, so I knew very well what I was doing and how to do it right. Ofcourse, I also knew this was not what Karate should be used for, but in a way, this was self-defense. Emotional self-defense.

Okay, so I had kicked two of my classmates onto the ground, one with her back against a table, with such force it could easily have broken her spine -damn, she was lucky. How infuriating- so what? I just grabbed my bag, swung it over my shoulder and left for home, where I was lucky enough to find my parents weren't there, and went to my bedroom to think.

For some unknown reason, my influence in the Death Note universe had gotten weaker over the years. So I couldn't bring Beyond back to life a second time. Plus, he would have to hide, just like L. But once, years ago, Rem had told me something important; half-Shinigami, like him and me, would become real Shinigami once they died. So Beyond would still be there, somewhere. He would sill live, in a way. But how was I gonna find him? And besides, how the hell would he remember me? Orcus had been a half-Shinigami, who lived about twice as long as the avarage human, then died, and became what was probably one of the world's best known Shinigami, Ryuk. But he had no idea he was once a human. Or something like it. So how the hell would Beyond recognize me? Maybe, could my influence still be strong enough to deal with that? Make sure Beyond'd remember me?

But then, he would also remember the fake promise I had made, the night he died. That he wasn't a demon, that Heaven would be open to him. I could only hope he'd forgive me for that.

So tonight, I would go back to Japan in that world, in the same way I had gone to America -simply by thinking it. And once there, I would try and make sure I'd get Beyond back, in a way. Even if he wasn't exactly the same person he used to be, there was no way I was gonna lose him completely. Maybe I'd arrange it so, that I'd find a Death Note with him as my Shinigami. Then we could still be together, right? Ofcourse, I would also go to Naomi and L, and tell them about it. After all, they were both pretty close with Beyond, too. Oh, and the poor little Nessa. She lost her Uncle Beyond... the poor little girl.

...

And there was someone else who was gonna lose something soon, I'd make that sure.

My cell phone suddenly rang, and I looked. Madeline.

'Yes, what is it?'

'_Iris, are you okay? I eh... I heard what happened at school. Maybe you should stay home for a day or two? After all, last night was... hard, for all of us. But especially you..._'

'I'm fine, thanks.' My voice didn't sound very thankful, though. I really was, honest, but it just didn't sound like it at all. 'I'm gonna bring Beyond back, tonight.'

'_How? His name wasn't written in a Death Note, so it's not like you can erase it. And even if you could, that wouldn't change his lifespan. He was destined to die last night, however hard and unfair it is... not that I don't want him back, too! It's just... I'm a little confused._'

'I won't be able to bring him back to life, you're right about that. But Rem once told me that half-Shinigami -yes, he is one, too- become _real_ Shinigami after their deaths. Ryuk is a good example.'

'_Ryuk?_'

'Yep. So, I'm gonna make sure I'll get Shinigami-Beyond at my side, instead. It won't be the same, I know, but it's still better than nothing.'

'_...Okay, I understand. Good luck, Iris, and then I'll see you tonight._'

And we hung up. I was sure this plan was gonna work. It had to.

It just had to.

* * *

**And it will, eventually, like I said.**

**The next xhapter isn't very long, either, but hopefully, it will be rather cute. That was my intention, at least.**


	56. Back Home

**Err... had I said this wasn't very long? I was wrong. It's just plain short, sorry. But at least, I've had two chapters today, right?**

**Oh, and I'm gonna go on a little vacation for a few days, and might have internet connection there, I might not. So if I don't update for a while, that's the reason.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Like I had planned, I was back in Japan. More specifically, I was in Naomi and L's house, after using my influence to make sure I'd get Beyond back. Nothing had happened so far, but I was sure it would, eventually. Now, all I had to do was arrange a... funeral, for his human-body. Which wasn't going to be easy. Oh, and I still had to tell them about his death, and was just about to do so. Nessa was at one of her first days in school, so at least I wouldn't have to deal with a crying little girl now. I was in enough pain myself, already.

'Well, Iris? What is it you wanted to tell us?' L asked, who sat beside me now.

I took a deep breath, and finally said those words. 'Beyond has died...'

Naomi gasped, and L's eyes widened in shock. 'He... died? H-how?'

'Mello...' I said, finding it harder and harder to keep going. 'Mello blew up his hideout, while we were in it. He almost died himself, but in the end, it was only Beyond and Soichiro who lost their lives.'

'Soichiro, too?' Naomi asked, her voice barely more than a whisper. L just stared at the ground, eyes emotionless.

'Maybe... maybe Mello isn't as good a successor as I had hoped he'd be...' He said slowly. 'Perhaps he's like my first tries... like A, like K...Perhaps.'

After that, all three of us went silent again. And stayed like that for a while. The only sound I could hear was the ticking of the clock, a sign that time kept going, life kept going. Yeah, life went on. Eventually, it was almost noon, and Naomi got up. 'I think I...I need to get Nessa from school now. I'll be back soon...' And so she left, and I was let alone with L, who was still muttering to himself about how unbelievable it was that Mello would kill someone, especially someone from Wammy's House. Or at least, that's what I thought he was saying; I hardly thought he could even hear himself, so I had no idea what he was saying exactly. Okay, so I had lied a bit about it being _completely_ silent, does it matter? No, I don't think so.

A few minutes later, I just suddenly began to sob. Great, now I had to see Nessa's reaction, too. Because, I didn't feel like leaving now. There was no one at HQ yet, not even Mads, who was probably on a plane back to Japan wih the others now, and the last thing I wanted now was to go back to ou- _my_ appartment and be alone there. L went silent now, and looked at me. 'Hey...Iris?' He sounded very careful now. What, has he never seen someone cry before? Or, maybe he has never been alone with someone while he or she was in my situation, and had no idea how to deal with it... Yeah, I guess that's just it. Well, it's time for him to learn, then.

I leaned my head against his shoulder, and just went on with my sobs. It was the first time I had really let my emotions slip since last night, and it was time now. L stiffened. 'I-Iris...?'

'J-j-just sh-shut up and l-let me...' I stammered.

After a moment, he just relaxed again -somewhat- and slowly ran his fingers through my hair, trying to comfort me a bit, anyway. I must say, it worked a bit. _A bit_. But even this much was enough for now.

'Th-thanks...'

'..Hm, no, it's okay... you saved my life, then I can do at least _something_ for you, right? I.. I'm sorry I can't bring Beyond back for you, but-'

Quite honestly, I didn;t exactly know what I did, or why I did it. I just did. Before I knew what was going on, L moved away from me, staring at me in surprise. Did I... did I...?

Embarassed, I curled up and looked away, starting to tremble, new and fresh tears welling up once again. 'I'm... I'm so sorry!' Okay, it weren't just sobs anymore now. Complete, plain crying, Oh, god, of all stupid things I had done before... this must've been the worst.

Yet... yet, I just felt L's amrs wrap around my shoulders and pull me closer again. 'No, it's alright, Iris...it's okay, really.' And so, I was allowed to just cry my eyes out in someone's arms. Just what I needed...

Really, sometimes, it surprised me what a nice guy L could be.

* * *

**Yeah, L can be so sweet!**

**And BB will be back soon, I promise!**

**Thanks for reading~!**


	57. Love is Immortal

**I have made a promise, and I have kept it...**

**Yes, I did!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Days had gone by, turned into weeks. Two of them. The funeral had already happened, and now, it lay right in fornt of my eyes. Pure black, no title on it. But there was no mistaking that black notebook.

A Death Note. One I could be pretty sure of was owned by Beyond.

My heart pounding with excitement, I bent down and picked it up, slowly, as if I still couldn't believe this was happening. This night, I had gone for a stroll in the city before going to HQ, and had seen this perfect little thing, lying in a pool of rainwater. Yes, it was raining. Something that worried me. What if it washed away what I left behind...? Surely it wouldn't. After all, that wall had been covered by a ridge at the roof of the building. It wouldn't go anywhere, no worries.

I flipped the notebook open, happy to see that there were no rule-pages inside. Honestly, it looked like your everyday-notebook. Only, it wasn't. Oh, no, it certainly wasn't.

'Thank you, Beyond. I'll be waiting for you...' I whispered, twisting my lips into a grin. Yes, I would wait. Tonight, I will be reunited with him, reunited with my precious Beyond, my one and only love. Ofcourse I had known it would take a little while for my influence to take effect, for the notebook to come to me. That's how it worked now. It still works, I can still control this place, but it takes a little longer than first. Why, I have no idea. Maybe it's because I'm really becoming a part of this world now, who knows? Whatever. It doesn't matter, anyway.

And thus, notebook hidden under my shirt, I went to HQ, where I was greeted by the complete Task Force. Minus Light, thank goodness. He was having his chat with Kiyomi now, Kiyomi Takada. I sat down at the desk, between Madeline and Matsuda. 'Well, what is going on here? Isn't she that Takada person, Kira's new spokeswoman? What is she doing with Light?' I demanded, leaving greetings aside.

'Light is trying to get information on Kira out of her,' Matsuda explained. 'How are you doing now, by the way? You've been away for almost a week now.'

I smiled at him. 'Oh, I'm fine again, really. I just needed some time to... get over it. Truthfully, I'm still not completely... but that doesn't matter, I'm back here, so I'm fine!'

Madeline smiled now, too. 'It's good to see you in a better mood again, Iris. Really, I was getting worried.'

On the screens, Kiyomi had just gotten a phonecall, and she gasped: '_Kira!_'

'What? Did she say it's Kira?!' Aizawa gasped. I grabbed a headphone, too, and listened along.

'_You should answer it._' Light said to the woman. And so she did.

'_No, I'm with a friend right now._' She said after a moment of silence. Then her eyes widened, and she looked up at Light. '_He... wants to speak to you._' And thus, she handed Light the cellphone, and it went silent for another moment, untill Light asked: '_Five pages on November tenty-sixth? What do you mean, I don't understand... yes...yes...but how can I trust you're the real Kira?... What did you say? Sakura TV?_'

Quickly, we turned one of our screens over to Sakura TV, where a man had just died from a heart attack, and back again. Light had moved a note under one of the cameras.

_Kira wants the room cleared of surveillance devices. I'm removing the bugs and cameras._

Oh, the sneaky bastard. It was always so frustrating to see how everyone trusted him, whatever he did. Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me, a whisper, and it was the best sound I had heard in a long time now.

'I know he's Kira now, Strawberry. Shall I go to that room and keep an eye on them?'

I turned around -in a way it wouldn't seem suspicious in any way to the Task Force, and saw Beyond. he had changed a bit, ofcourse, but it was still him. I had a hard time surpressing my voice and the words that pierced my throat as they wanted to get out. I inhaled slowly, walked to the door leading to the hallway, and said: 'I'll be back soon, guys. I forgot something important at home.' And thus, I went out, followed by my lovely Shinigami partner. Once outside, I looked at him, no longer hiding the relief and joy in my eyes, smiled widely at him. 'Hey...' Was all I could bring out, though. He just chuckeled, landed softly and graciously on the stone ground, and retracted his bat-like wings. 'Hey...' He copied my tone exactly, smiling in the same way. Then I jumped forward, practically tackled him, and gave him what was most likely the tightest hug I've given someone in weeks, including him, when he was still... alive. Not that I considered this as him being dead. After all, he was just living another type of life now.

'I-I'm so glad you're back, Beyond!' I exclaimed happilly. 'I missed you, my Jam-Fan.'

'I missed you too, Strawberry of mine.' He answered, letting go of me again, looking at me fromt op to bottom. 'Well, at least _you _haven't changed!' He laughed after a few seconds.

Yeah, I was still the same... I think. But he certainly looked different. His skin was a little paler now, making him almost white. His scars, which hadn't been too visible, anyway, were gone. His eyes shone with an even brighter light now, and appeared to be even more blood-red than they already were. His nails had grown into something like claws, though that was just a detail. If someone wouldn't look at them, they'd think they were just rather long nails. The most obvious things were the markings he had on his skin now, somewhat like those Rem used to have. They were golden-orange, three thin lines under each eye, that reached down to his jaw. There were two on each side of his neck, as well, and one on each finger that went up his wrist and formed a slightly bigger line on his arm. Or at least, that's what I think it was; he wore a long-sleeved, silver-gray shirt that graduadly grew darker around the neck, at the end of the sleeves, and the bottom of his shirt. Almost the same thing he had worn the first time I had met him. And then there were those wings he had now. Bat-like, or dragon-like, whatever you prefer, with a sharp horn at the end of them, thin and thorn-like.

'I can't say the same about you, now can I?' I joked, hugging him once again. And trust me, I didn't think this would be the last time I did so tonight. It's just... that I'd have to go back into HQ again soon, otherwise I would raise suspicion, being away so often and so long, despite what had happened lately. So I just gave him a quick kiss on the lips, just as I always did when I got home from that other world, and said we had to go back inside. He followed me by foot this time, something that I thought felt more comfotable. Having him fly behind me only confirmed to me that, even though he was still my Beyond, he was a Shinigami now, too. Not that he has never been one, and that I wasn't like him, as well. But... I'll have to get used to his slightly-less-human looks, I guess, that's all.

When we both got back, the Task Force were all discussing how worried they were about Light, and how they hadn't heard from him ever since the bugs had been removed from that room, which has been almost twenty minutes now. Wait, had I been gone for so long? Well, at least it supported my lie of having to go back home quickly and do something there. Right that moment, when I saw the slightly vacant look in Madeline's eyes -one I knew all too well, after so many years- I realised this night was coming to an end slowly.

And damn, how I looked forward to the next one. After all, then my-

'Iris, I know you've just come back in here, but can we... can we go again?' Madeline interrupted my thoughts. 'Q-quite honestly, I don't feel so good...' No, that much was obvious. I felt the same thing, jut not as much as she did yet. We were both close to waking up, but she was just one or two steps ahead of me now. She looked extremely dizzy already. I gave her a sympathetic smile, and nodded. 'Sure. We'll see you guys again, soon, alright? I hope we won't miss anything important, though!' I added as we walked out of the door together.

Still followed by Beyond.

Oh Kami, he was really back. I really had him back.

Thank you...

* * *

**BB is back, everyone~!**

**I just loved the guy too much to kill him permanently. And hey, it was indeed stupid to keep him alive, only to kill him again later on, right? Which is why he's back again! **

**Thanks for reading, and I hope no one is angry with me anymore~!**


	58. Good Morning

**Yush, BB is back, now no one needs to be angry or sad anymore! ...unless there are those strange creatures who don't love BB 0_0... oh well, that's possible, too, isn't it? (I find it hard to believe, but hey, there are also people who don't like chocolate, so...)**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

My eyes flickered open, taking their time to adjust to the morning light. I yawned and stretched, like I always did.

'Good morning, Sunshine.'

I inhaled deeply. After last night, I couldn't feel any better than I did now. 'Yes, good morn- Wait, what?' Confused, I shook my head, and looked over to where the voice had come from, on the opposite side of my room, on a couch.

Oh my god, how-? Why is-? I shook my head, blinked a few times, and looked again. Was I still dreaming? No, I was certain I was awake again, but...

'What is it, Strawberry?' Beyond asked, smiling. Oh. Something else I'd have to get used to; he had some sort of fang-like teeth now...Yikes. 'What, did you think I would only be with you in that world? No, my precious, that notebook over there-' He pointed to a black book lying just beside my bed, like it had fallen there, as if I dropped it. How the hell? '-is yours now. Which means you're my human. I posess you now, so I have to stay with you every second of the day, whatever world you go to.' He laughed, and looked at one of my books. _Sunrise_, from the _Warriors_ series. 'Even if you somehow got into this cat-world, I'd be right behind you. If you went into that other manga of yours, Tokyo Mew Mew, or Wolf's Rain, I'd follow you. That's just the rules.' He looked at me again, and blinked questionningly. 'You don't mind, I hope?'

I was too busy gaping at him to respond right away, but when he said my name in a worried tone ,"_Are you okay?"_, I violently and very protestingly shook my head. 'Ofcourse not! I love you, Beyond, why would I _not_ want to be with you all the time?' Oh, was he really that stupid? Did he think I only loved him in the Death Note world? Ofcourse not, the silly Shinigami! I quickly got out of bed -seeing as I had almost overslept- and went to my closet, only to hear a comment from Beyond;

'Mmmhhmm... you looked good as a teenager, as well, Iris. Thanks a bunch!'

My face grew hot, and it made me get dressed only quicker as I muttered: 'Shut up, you pervert!' Damn, I really needed to start wearing pajamas now. Or maybe not? Well, I didn't really care, so long as he won't say things like that again. Then an idea came into my head, and I just had to ask; 'Say, Beyond, can people only see yu after touching that Death Note now?'

'Indeed. Just like back in the good old Death Note universe, where it all started!'

Okay, shit. So now, I did not only have a demon (even if it was _Beyond_) following me every second of the day now, I also had a killler notebook that I had to keep a secret, because if anyone touched it, _they _would see that demon, too. Just great.

But hey, if that's what it takes to have Beyond back, I don't mind. Yes, anything to be with Beyond again! I began to giggle in a way I hadn't done in two years (in this world). 'You know, Jam-Fan, you're gonna have to come with me to school now! For one and a half year yet!'

He pouted, but smiled all the same. 'Aww... I've never liked school!'

'You've never been to one.'

'Exactly!'

And then we both started laughing, and went downstairs. Well, first it was time for him to meet my family. 'Goodmorning everyone!' I greeted my little sisters -who weren't so little anymore, after all, they were thirteen now, no longer ten- and stepmother. My father was probably already back to work, wjile my borhter was at university.

'Well, you're in a good mood again, Iris!' That was Amy, who was smiling at me now. 'Had a good dream?'

I nodded. 'The best!' I answered as I sat down, getting myself a breakfast. Beyond sat down somewhere behind me, on the couch.

'Death Note again?' Shayen asked, and Lisha snickered. I shook my head in protest and began to eat, not bothering to answer to that. Ofcourse it was Death Note, I haven't had dreams in almost three years now, it has always been my other life. But they still had no idea about that. And so the morning went on, then I got my schoolbag and bicycle, and went of to school, Beyond following me like a shadow all the time. That was the most perfect feeling I've had in weeks. And he was with me in every class I had, and every other moment as well. I now had Biology, and there were some things I just didn't know. Stupid test.

But ofcourse, I could've expected the next thing to happen. Beyond leaned over my shoulder and stared at the questions. 'Well, the answer on that should definitely be "rupturing of organs".' He told me. Yeah, we had to make a test about damage done to either the outside, or the inside of the body, and what effects they had exactly. Nice topic, huh? 'And this one is "being stabbed in the kidney"... with an average kitchen knife, to be exact. But I don't think you should write that down. After all, the only reason I know it, is because I have once done so myself, heheh!'

Ans so I wrote down what he told me, every time I wasn't sure. This is cheating, right? Right? Well, I've never been one for cheating when it comes to school, but... But hey, no one would ever know about _this,_ right? No, impossible.

During the lunchbreak, I went to an empty corner before going back to Madeline and the rest. I closed my eyes and smiled at my dear Shinigami partner. 'Thanks for helping me out just now, Beyond!' He just laughed, and answered: 'Glad to be of service, Strawberry!'

'Did you just say... _Beyond_?'

My blood ran cold as I heard the familiar voice behind me. Eyes wide, I turned around and saw Madeline looking at me, a worried look in her eyes. 'Iris... I know you wanted to bring Beyond back as a Shinigami, but...how? What did you just-'

'-He's here.' I cut her off quickly. 'He's indeed my Shinigami now, and not just in the Death Note world. He's here, too.'

Surprised, her green eyes widened. 'R-really?' She looked around, then picked a random place somewhere close to me to look at. 'Well... hi, Beyond...I guess.'

I laughed, grabbed her face in both my hands and turned it carefully to where Beyond really stood, who smiled at Mads and returned her greeting. 'Yeah, hi, Mads! Long time no see!'

Madeline was just quiet. Ofcourse, she couldn't see him _or_ hear him. But, since what happened to my hand-made Death Note, a few years ago... I turned to Beyond. 'Say, Jam-Fan, I'm a Shinigami as well. So if she touches my Death Note now, will it be hers instead?'

He was quiet for a moment, then just shrugged. 'I have no idea. Maybe.'

Okay, let's just not take risks, then. 'Well then, I'm sorry Mads, but... I won't let you touch my Death Note so you can see him, seeing as you unknowingly claimed my first one, years ago. I'm not gonna lose him again, you know.'

She blinked at me, and nodded. ''kay, I understand.' Then we went to the other girls together, and just enjoyed our lunchbreak before we had more lessons.

And my god, school together with Beyond. Way too perfect!

* * *

**Oh, how I'd want a real Shinigami-genius to help me out in school...*sigh***

**Anyway, thanks for reading again!**

**-and the next chapter will reveal why I made Beyond die in the first place. That was just the last trigger for _that_ to happen.**


	59. The Reaper

**Okay, just so you know, Iris isn't too great at handling strong emotions (neither am I, though I don't react the same way as she does -thank goodness! She has become quite her own personality by now). And, even though he's back, the night that Beyond died was, er... a bit too much for her. And did she not consider quite a few things even before that?**

**Long before it?**

**Well, the title of this chapter says it all, doesn't it?**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

It was just another day of work back in the DN world, and everyone was here, as usual. Everyone, except Matsuda. Okay, it was unusual for him to be late, so maybe I did wonder where he was for a moment. I wouldn't call it "worried", though. Not in the least, even if I had grown quite fond of the idiot over the years. Well, who wouldn't? His idiotic actions could be frustrating, I'll admit, but it made him a lovely relief of all the stress from this jib every once in a while.

But beside that, I was sure this was going to be a great night. After all-

The door slammed open, cutting off my thoughts, and a familiar voice exclaimed: 'Everyone! You've _got_ to see this!'

Ah, so Matsuda was only late because he brought a newspaper with him? The idiot. Well, at least he brought the one thing with him that I had been waiting for...

'What is it now?' Aizawa complained grumpily as he turned to the hyper moron.

'Just look at this article! Another murder!'

'Kira again?' Mogi asked. 'Matsuda, those aren't particularly special anymore, are they?'

Matsuda shook his head. 'No! Okay, let me put it differently; another_ murderer_.'

Now everyone was curious enough to actually look at the newspaper. And there it was;

_Murderer Leaves Police Baffled_

Oh? Well, that sounded good! There was a picture of the crimescene as well, something was written on a wall in strange letters, and written in _blood._

'I wonder what is written on that wall, though. Maybe it's some kind of message.' Matsuda thought out loud. Oh, really, had Japanese people never learned something like this? At least not these particular Japanese people, that's for sure! They were all staring at the photograph with puzzled expressions, so I simply said;

'It's ancient Greek.'

They all turned to me. 'What? Greek?' Aizawa asked, while Matsuda immediatly exclaimed: 'Wait, so you can read it? What does it say?'

I shrugged. 'Well, I've had Greek in school for two years. It's been a while, but I do remember the alfabet. Give me a moment.' I looked at the picture, trying hard not to grin or laugh. 'That first letter's a Theta, which is written as "th". The is Epsilon, an "e". So the first word is simply "the". Now the second... Rho, Epsilon, Alfa, Pi, Epsilon, Rho. Reaper.'

'So, it's more of a name? "The Reaper"?' Light demanded, to which I nodded.

'I guess so. Just like you have Kira, I guess we're now also stuck with someone calling himself The Reaper.

The men looked back at the article again, and the picture. 'Well, at least this doesn't look like it's a supernatural killer...' Aizawa sighed, somewhat relieved, after a little while. Matsuda nodded.

'Yeah, but this wasn't all... apparently, The Reaper has left a whole message, just on the other side of that wall. There was a picture of that, too, on the next page... here it is.' Yep, a whole text, quite a few sentences. He looked at me with hope shining in his eyes. 'Can you translate this, too, Iris?'

I nodded, and reached out for the newspaper. 'Yes, but it will take some more time, though. Just give me a few minutes, and I'll be done.' I grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil, and began making notes. Beyond looked over my shoulder, curiously. 'Well, that's bad news, isn't it?' He said. 'Another murderer to deal with.' I gave just the slightest nod, and hoped he could see it. The Task Force's eyes were burning into my back right now, as they watched me while I was translating the Reaper's message. Some of the words were a little off, ofcourse, but the Greek alfabet "lacked" a few letters we had. Eventually, I was done.

_KIRA IS not a god. Not the sun, god of the day. More like the MOON, GOD of the NIGHT._ Some of the words were written in capitals, which was strange. That could only mean they were an important part of the message, right? Right. That was the same conclusion the Task Force got, when I showed it to them.

'It's clearly some sort of threat to Kira, as if to say "back off", something like that.' Aizawa pondered. Mogi nodded. 'Yeah, but the capitals make "Kira is moon god night". Maybe this person really knows Kira's identity? It could be a code or something.'

'Yes, but I don't know anyone with the name "moon", or anything like it.' Matsuda put in. Now it was Madeline's turn.

'Yes, you do. Light's name is written with the Kanji for Moon, isn't it? That's one person. I bet there are many like that.' Good argument, my dear friend. Good argument.

This seemed to trigger quite the conversation in our small HQ. 'Now that you mention it, his whole name in Kanji is "Moon NightGod". Strange, isn't it?'

'Another person who suspects Light, then? The original L did so, too, and it seems to me that Near keeps his eyes on Light as well.'

'Maybe it was Mello, who knows?'

'Mello wouldn't do such a thing!' Okay, clear message Mads, thank you.

'He's killed more people, remember? Could well be him.'

'But then why come up with _another_ alias?' Madeline protested. 'He would've just writted Mello there, and not go through the pain of learning Greek first!'

Light smirked. 'You seem to know Mello quite well, Madeline.' Was the only thing he said. Madeline's face went bright red, and she muttered: 'Oh, just shut up!'

Well, I knew ofcourse, that Madeline liked Mello quite a lot, and it wouldn't surprise me if she had met him several more times than she lets the Task Force, or me, for that matter, know.

At least I wasn't the only one with secrets, then.

We kept discussing The Reaper for a while, until it was almost morning and I decided to leave again. Only when we were out of HQ again, Beyond spoke to me.

'Iris,' His voice was anxious, unstable. 'That Reaper stuff, that was you, wasn't it?'

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, before closing them and smirking. 'The murder? Yes, that was my doing.' I heard a shocked gasp from behind me, and imediatly, my beloved partner stammered:

'But- but why?!'

'I'm a Shinigami, my dear Beyond.' I said, looking at him again. 'A Shinigami, who happilly lives up to expectations.' Then I fixed my eyes on the street in front of me again. 'I'm a _Goddess of Death_, I'm _supposed_ to kill.' I added more quietly.

'...But for what reason?'

'Several.' I answered him, smirking once again. 'My first priority was to send Kira, or rather, Light a message, ofcourse. I just wanted to tell him that there _are_ people who know who he really is, and that, no matter how many criminals he kills, crime simply won't disappear. Not everyone is scared of getting killed by Kira, and especially not me.' My steps slowed down, until I stood completely motionless. 'My second...' I muttered with a murderous tone, a grin sliding across my face as my hair hid my eyes. '...was to see if I can kill people without leaving a single trace.' As I said that, I heard yet another gasp from Beyond. He obviously understood what I was thinking about.

My classmates, a very specific group of them, in fact.

'Because if I can do it here...'

They would have to watch out, all of them. The Reaper existed in more than one world.

'...I can do it anywhere.'

* * *

***Dun-Dun-Duunnnn* ...Yep, the Reaper entered the story, everyone! This will make it just a bit more complicated than it already is, and might just make it a little more interesting as well! Okay, I just like stories from a criminal's PoV. Usually they all get a bad name, while _their _story is oftenly so interesting. I just... like them. And so I write them.**

**fine, Iris isn't really a hard-core criminal, and she'll never be one, but she _is_ a murderer now.**

**P.S. Light's name in Kanji is something like "Moon NightGod" -it said so somewhere in the manga. So yeah...**

**Thank you all for reading again, and all those new reviews, yay~! Huggles for y'all! **


	60. Only you

**Eeeekk! I forgot to update yesterday, while I had this chapter ready and all! No! Please, forgive me! To make it up, I will upload two chapters today, the second being the one I had planned for today, anyway XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

It was dark outside, pitch-black. A soft rain drummed on the ground, chasing away the silence that was broken by the occassional car, anyway. Midnight. My parents, and anyone else at home was alseep. They had no idea I wasn't doing so, too. I was standing here, in the rain, in front of a dark, stone house. I had prepared everything just like I had done back in the Death Note world. Clothes that covered everyhting, even half my face. The other half was painted black, making my cold blue eyes appear like shards of a crystal in the middle of dark ashes. Everything was made so, that I was unrecognisable, and there was no way I'd leave even the tiniest trace of my prescense in here. Grinning so wide it practically split my face in half, I made my way towards the back of the house, and climbed up to a bedroom window by the rainpipe. Beyond followed my every move, but for once, he seemed rather unwilling to do so.

'Iris, please think for a moment.' He urged me. 'Please, don't do this. You know that it's not like you... this isn't you, Iris! Stop it!'

I chuckeled as I slowly opened the window to let myself in. 'Oh, my dear Beyond, I know that. This isn't Iris, this is The Reaper. But it's part of me just the same. Get used to it.' One more tiny push, and it should open... yes. I was in, perfect. I looked at the person lying in that bed over there, and my heart pounded with excitement. It was her, my target, my first victim in this world. I had practiced for this, and I knew it was gonna be just as I wanted. I could almost feel my knife twitching in my pocket. It wanted to get out, do it's duty. And it would.

My grin crossed my face once again, as I stuck my hand into my jeans, and moved my hands around the knife, carefully. Slowly as to not make any sounds, wake the damned girl up, I got it out of there, raised my hand, and-

-and got stopped by Beyond, who had grabbed my wrist. He stared at me with pleading red eyes, begging me not to do it. But I was already here, crouching in the window of her bedroom, knife in my hands and mentally almost _dying_ to see her bleed. I narrowed my eyes at him, and muttered softly: 'I will do it, Beyond. I _will_ do it.' I pulled my wrist free, and raised it once again, grinning as I whispered. 'What shall I choose; head or back?'

Beyond shrugged. 'I'd say the head is more effective, but the skull... it's just that much harder to penetrate. Since you're just a beginner, maybe you should just go for the heart.' Then he shook his head violently, scolding himself. Oh, how I loved it that his old serial-killer instinct came back when I asked such things. 'Oh, forget it! You're not gonna murder that girl, Iris!'

I was just about to throw the knife at her, when he pulled me back again. Only, now it was more than just my wrist. Before I could let go of it, I felt the ground disappear from under my feet, and the air rushing by my ears, before-

The strong impact as I hit the ground knocked all breath from my lungs, and I gasped. Beyond kneeled beside me, the knife I had dropped during my fall in his hands. His scarlet eyes glittered with disappointment and anger, as he pressed the sharp blade against my throat, only just hard enough to ensure me it was real. A wave of fear shot through my body, paralizing me for just a few seconds, until I growled. 'You'd never do it. Besides, you can't even kill me. I'm immortal!'

But he didn't move. He just kept his pale scarlet eyes burning into my cold blue ones, for a few seconds that seemed an eternity. Then he simply threw it aside, stood up and held a hand out to me, as to help me up. 'Let's just go home. It's cold and wet, you might get a chest infection. Besides, even though it's Saturday tomorrow -or perhaps today already- you still need to sleep. What if one of your parents notices you're gone?'

Yes, that was reasonable thinking. I was immortal, but that doesn't mean diseases and infections weren't uncomfortable. And if I had to climb all the way up again, I'd definitely just get agitated and screw up the whole kill. And not only that... what if, by just hoping it, I had left no clues in the other world, only because my mind had so much influence there? If that was the only reason, then I might just screw up here, and get caught and whatnot. No, I wasn't waiting for something like that to happen.

So maybe I should just take satisfaction in the fact I had _almost_ killed the bitch, and listen to my dear Beyond. After all, he knows best when it comes to killing. He has killed _three_ people, when my murder rate is still on a mere one.

...perhaps I should keep it at that?...

No. The Reaper is a serial-killer, not a stupid one-night-pleasure-and-gore person. Maybe not in this world, but I would definitely not disappear from the Death Note world as well.

I stood up, my legs still a bit wobly from the fall, and followed Beyond back home. It was indeed getting colder now, and it was probably already past one AM. Not that it was a long walk to get there, but still, I felt I had to hurry a bit.

I washed the black paint from my face, cleaned the sink afterwards, hung my wet clothes in my closet to dry -it would take longer than usual, but at least my parents wouldn't see them there- and lay down in bed again, shivering. Being wet at night, no, I didn't particularly like it.

And thus I was glad to feel Beyond laying down beside me, folding his warm wings over me. They were really nothing but thin skin, scales, but there were enough veins in them, and the pulsing blood was just so warm.

'I love you, Beyond.'

He moved closer, and whispered in my ear: 'I love you, too.I love only _you_...'

* * *

**Whoa, double meaning in those words! Notice it, Iris, NOTICE IT!**

**...Sorry for that... an outburst of stupidity again.**

**Well, having Beyond around has made her less dangerous, at least. At first, I had planned to actually let her kill someone in the "real" world, too, but then I thought "how would she be able to live with herself afterwards?", and that she'd try to commit suicide because of it, but ofcourse, horribly fail :|... yup.**

**So I didn't do that~!**

**Oh, and the next one is, finally, a bit more Madeline-centered, and we have a new introduction as well, not to mention that it'll be longer than this!**

**So I hope you liked it, and the next chapter will be up later on today! (unless it isn't 9:21 A.M in your country, but way later, or a lot earlier, so that makes it...tomorrow? Yush.)**


	61. Secrets

**Wheeeee, long chapter, long chapter~!**

**Plus a new introduction, and there'll be one in the next chapter, as well! Horay!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I heard them. I heard them as they were talking on the phone. So, there really are a lot of secrest in here, aren't there?

'Yes, L has been having regular contact with Takada now.' I heard Madeline's hushed voice on the hallway. I halted, and hid behind the other side of the corner. She hadn't seen me, or heard me yet. If she had, she would've let me know.

'...Yes, you're right about that. The current L is actually Light Yagami.' _What?! _Okay, we were both rather against Light now, but not even I have told anyone that the current "L" is him! 'What's that? You... him, being Kira?...That is indeed possible. The first L thinks..._thought_ the same thing.'

Oh so secretive, aren't we now, Mads? Oh, but I know who that is. I know who you're talking to. I can hide enough things from you, if only you knew the things I have done and will do! But no, I know you too well. You can't hide this from me.

'...Yes. Yes, he is...still alive, indeed.'

_Madeline!_ She was talking about L, the real L, I knew it for sure! How could she tell him that L wasn't dead?! _How could she?_ Who knows what Mello'l do with that knowledge.

'No! No, you can't go there...You just can't! I can't explain everything now, but-...Okay, I'll tell you. But not over the phone, alright? It's a bit too complicated for that. So is it okay if I come over to your place? Like, right now? I can get away easily.' Oh, so now she was gonna visit her new _boyfriend_? 'Yes, I'll see you soon, then.'

I quickly went away as I heard her shut her phone. The...the...traitor! We're _all_ against Mello, as well as Kira, after he killed both Soichiro and Beyond. He killed them, he abducted the director of the police and Sayu Yagami. I loved his character, but this is more than just a _character_. This is a real-deal criminal.

...but so am I, right? Well, at least I am not an ex-mafia boss who must've killed dozens of people! My murder rate is still only on one...and almost two.

But oh, I was so gonna follow her. No doubt, no hesitation. I will follow her no matter what! As I took my place at the main desk in HQ, Beyond sat down beside me, having a chat with Ryuk. And there came Madeline, apologising for the fact something came up, and she had to leave imediatly.

'I'm sorry to interrupt you and Ryuk, Beyond, but I'm afraid we have to leave, too.'

He looked up. 'Oh? Where, and why, actually?'

I stood up, said I was tired and would go home for tonight, and walked out of HQ, shadowing my friend. 'We're going with Mads, my precious. She's going to Mello, and I want to find why.' She was just goign around a corner, and I shot after her, quick and silent as a snake. Not one moment did she turn around, make any sign that she had noticed me here, as we walked through the dark night. The M-Hideout, as I will call it from now on, was surprisingly close. I had not one moment thought it would be in the same city as our HQ, but it was. That's... convenient to know.

When Madeline rung the doorbell, it took only a few seconds to get someone to open it. Matt. He was a... surprise. Not that his hair was really green, like in the anime, but... Well, it wasn't reddish-brown, either. Dark, chestnut brown instead, actually. His goggles hung around his neck, his GameBoy still in his hand, buzzing away. Clearly it hadn't been turned off in _hours_. Now, he wore stripes, ofcourse. Black and white, baggy jeans. Right, the jeans were another difference from the anime. They were more like L's than what he had in the series, but it looked good on him, anyway. Oh, and for once, thank goodness, he wasn't smoking. I _loathed_ the smell of cigarrets. When he saw Mads, he smiled and stepped aside to let her in. As if they were best friends who hadn't seen eachother in months or longer. What the hell?

Just before he closed the door, though...

'Hey, Madeline... you were being shadowed.' _Damn!_ I gritted my teeth, and made no move to get away. 'D'you know her?'

Surprised, Mads turned around and looked at me. The moment she recognized me, her eyes grew wide with anger. 'Iris! Why did you follow me?'

I stood up and walked into the beam of light that came out of the M-House. Matt scratched himself behind the head. 'So that's Iris, then? Nice t'meet ya.'

'Same to you, Matt.' I muttered, sounding not-so-honest, even though it was true. 'Why I followed you? I can ask you a thing or two, too! Why did you not tell me you had contact with Mello and Matt? And why have you told him that L isn't dead? That was a secret between you, me, the Task Force and Beyond! No one else; not Misa, not Near, not Mello and Matt and _especially_ not Light were supposed to know!'

She took a step closer to me. 'Oh? So what? Shall I make a guess how many things there are that you haven't told me, either? Let's see... thousands, maybe?'

Thousand? No. Just two rather important little things. I shrugged. 'Fine; I have Shinigami Eyes and I am The Reaper. That's it.' I blinked at her, as her eyes grew wider, afraid, and she gasped.

'_You_?! You are The Reaper?! But- but why? How?'

'How is not so difficult. Stick a knife in someone's chest and use the blood to write a thing or two. Why is a longer story. Mainly, because I _wanted to_. I wanted to give Kira the knowledge that there are people who are still against him, even a few who know who he really is. Who knows, maybe I scared him a bit? He certainly didn't look too happy.' I explained simply, not a single emotion hidden in my voice. Not _one_. Then I looked at Matt. 'Is it a problem if Beyond and I come in, too? We won't tell anyone abot this place whatsoever, but it's getting a bit cold here.'

He dropped his GameBoy in surprise. 'B-Beyond? You mean, _Beyond Birthday_? The serial-killer, B from Wammy's House? Isn't he in jail, or an asylum, or dead?'

Madeline answered for me. 'Yup, he's dead.'

'Then how the fuck-?'

'He's a Shinigami now. _My_ Shinigami. Or, rather, I'm his human now. You won't see him, be able to talk to him or anything else. Unless-' I grabbed my Death Note from under my shirt, where I had kept it for quite a few days now. '-unless you touch this. And, since I'm half-human, I guess I can let you do so. I will keep it, right?' The last part was directed at Beyond, who nodded.

'In your world, I'm not sure about it, but it won't be a problem here.'

I held it out to Madeline and Matt, who touched it without hesitating. Completely forgetting her anger toward me for a moment, Mads blinked as soon as she saw Beyond behind me, smiled, and jumped at him, swinging her arms around his neck. 'Hi, Beyond! Long time no see, I missed you!'

He laughed. 'I can't say I've missed you much -I've been able to see you all this time! But, I guess I did miss our nonsense-conversations!'

Absently, Matt nodded. 'Yes, she is indeed great at talking about nothing in particular...rambling away all the time.' It was obvious he was scared of Beyond. Oh, who wouldn't be, if they saw a Shinigami for the first time? I mean, he was still rather human-like, ofcourse, but Beyond had his wings out now, and as he and Madeline were talking, his fangs were visible every few second. Plus, he was paler than any human I had ever seen -including myself- and the new markings didn't make it any better, either. Matt gulped nervously, and nodded to Beyond. 'N-nice to see you again, B.'

'Hey, what's taking you so long, Matt?' Came a now-familiar voice. Mello was walking down the stairs, to the door. He halted when he saw me, and then his eyes fell on Madeline, who was hugging Beyond again. To Mello, it must seem like she was hugging nothing but air. Without greeting him, introducing myself or anything else, I held out my Death Note to him. He touched it, stared at Beyond, then Madeline, back to Beyond again and then stared at Matt. 'Who the fuck?'

'That's B.'

'_That's_ B?!' His blue eyes traveled back to my beloved Shinigami. 'Well, color me surprised. I had never thought he'd become a Shinigami after his death... wait, he's dead? How?'

I shot a glare in his direction, and practically hissed: 'That would be _your _doing. When you blew up the mafia's hideout, remember?'

He blinked at me. 'Oh, it's... you. I remember you... Iris, right? So, eh, Beyond was on the team, then? I'm, er... sorry I killed him.'

'And so you should be!' I let out a sigh, and relaxed again. 'Well, at least I didn't lose him completely. No, even better, he's with me more often now! But I still miss his... humanity. Him being a human, you know.'

Mello stared at Mads and B a moment longer, nodded, and called them inside. And I came along. Oh, Kami... how glad I am I can get away with pretty much everything in this world. We sat down on a few old chairs and a small, beat-up couch. The hideout was full of empty chocolate-wrappers -Mello- and games. That was Matt's stuff, then. And then there were many, many files, a laptop here and there -one was completely broken, and by the looks of it, I think Mello had gotten an outburst of rage and acted it out on the poor computer once. Just great, having someone with such anger-issues around. And then, on the table, there was... a book. A notebook -a normal one-, pages open, a pen on them. One glance in it told me enough; it was Another Note; the LABB Murder Case. The original, the first draft. My inner book-craving-reading-fan, along with the Death Note-fangirl that was still somewhere in the back of my consciense, even after all these years, screamed at me to read it. But I wouldn't, ofcourse. I had better things to do.

'Well, Madeline,' Mello began as he sat down. 'Explain to me how it is possible my mentor, who has been believed to be dead for five years now, is still alive. Because I'm getting rather curious now.'

'Well, he did indeed die.' Madeline explained, to which Matt interrupted, almost scared: 'Don't tell me L's become a Shinigami, too! Please! They're creepy!... No offense, B.' The Shinigami just shrugged, and smiled at him.

'No, he's still human. Zombie, maybe, but human.' Madeline answered, smiling just as wide. Then she turned to me, and I thought to see the joy in her eyes subside slightly. 'Iris can explain that part.'

I blinked at her, sighed, and began. 'L was killed by Kira, with the Death Note -I trust I do not have to explain that concept- and on the day of his funeral, I used this little thing,' I took my Death Eraser out of my pocket, where I had kept it for all that time. 'To ressurrect him. It's a Death Eraser, and if you erase a name from the Death Note with it, before that person has been cremated or the body has become... "unliveable"?... in any other way, they will come back to life. No one knows about this thing's excistence, apart from L, Mads, Beyond, Naomi and now, you two.'

Both young men stared at it in awe. So now, there was not only a notebook of death, but also an eraser of ressurrection? What the fuck is wrong with this world?... Yep, I guess that's what's in their heads right now.

'Ssoooo...' Matt mumbled. 'Who's Naomi?'

Oh, right. They didn't know her. Thank goodness. And I wasn't gonna tell them, either!... If only Madeline agreed with me...

'Naomi's kinda L's wife. They're not legally married, but that's not the problem.'

'Whoa!' Mello and Matt exclaimed at the same time, sitting upright as sudden as though a jolt of electricity went trough their bodies just now. 'She's his _what_!? How the hell is that even possible?! I had no idea L even knew what love was, let alone be able to feel it!' They were saying the things so fast now, not letting eachother speak one at a time, it was hard to understand what they were saying. But Beyond started laughing, so whatever it was I missed, it must've been funny. Damnit.

'Kyahaha~! That's exactly what I thought, the day I was looking through recordings we made with the surveillance cameras, and saw them... yeah...' He snickered now. Hm, that must've been really funny, then. Darn it, I missed all that.

'But what are your plans from now on, Mello?' Madeline asked.

He shrugged. 'I plan to pay Near a visit soon. And Matt is asigned to spy on that Amane girl, the one that has been accused of being the Second-Kira. After that, I have no idea. But I have a contact in the SPK, and I'm sure she'll be of use. Have you seen the new personal guards of Kira's spokeswoman, Takada? One of them, the blonde, Lidner, works with Near as well as me. I'm not sure who's side she's really on yet, but so long as I have my gun with me, she does everything I ask.' I looked at him, an amused, joking look in my eyes. 'Within reason.' He added then. He leaned forward toward the table, got his notebook and pen, and started writing again. 'Plus, I have a book to write. Along with two others. The three stories L told me, the only time we really met. The LABB Murder Case -sorry, Beyond- how he met Watari and it all started, and the detective battle with the real Coil and Denueve. As of now, I'm still working on LABB.' He shot a sideways glance at Matt. 'You've read everything I've written so far, you should know who Naomi Misora is.'

The gamer, who again had his GameBoy in his hands and was clicking away, shrugged. 'I didn't know it was _Misora_, she only said _Naomi._'

'True.'

And they became silent again, only interrupting the silence when Mello poked Matt, muttering: 'Misa Amane, remember?' Matt didn't react, so Mello just sighed and went on writing. Madeline was quiet, too, not looking at me. Hey, I wouldn't do so, either. She had secrets for me, and I had secrets for her. Only, her secrets weren't really that severe, my secret -that wasn't so secret anymore now- was that I became a murderer. Quite a gap between the severity levels, right? Yeah.

But I had work to do -not The Reaper's work- and this was getting boring. So I stood up, said my good-byes and left for HQ again.

And when I arrived there, I found I had arrived at exactly the right time.

* * *

**Exactly the right moment for what...?**

**You'll see!**

**Oh, and I'm happy now, very very happy! Because my parents have agreed with my fangirlism, and now I'll get the whole Death Note manga series for either my birthday, or christmas! Yay~! Just one-and-a-half month, Bluesun, have patience!**

**...Anywayzz, thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it!**


	62. Getting Near the End

**And yet another introduction! I mean, I've mentioned him ocassionally in the last few chapters, but Near hasn't really been in the story yet, has he? Well, he's here now!**

**So Near fans, you may go Yay~!**

**...unless he's too OOC, as I tend to do with all the other characters. But I've (for once) tried to keep him in-character.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

Aizawa was fiddling around with some notepads, looking worried, shocked. I came closer to him, looking over his shoulder. 'What are you doing, Aizawa-san?'

He jumped, startled. 'Damnit, Iris, stop sneaking up on people like that!'

I smiled innocently. 'Sorry, Aizawa-san. Are you checking those notepads? For what?'

He looked at me, scanning my expression, almost as if to see if he could trust me. But he decided he could, just like I had hoped. 'Yes, I left four marks in here, and if they were gone, it must mean Light and Takada are passing notes every time they have a conversation. Near brought me on this idea, and he was right. They're passing notes in there!' He clenched his hand into fists, looking quite agitated.

'Near gave you this idea? When?'

'I called him a few days ago, after he offered us to work together with him. And I'm gonna do so again, right now! No, even better; I'll demand a face-to-face meeting!' He shot his hand into his pocket, grabbing his cellphone and furiously began typing a number.

'And I will come with you!'

After I said that, he looked at me in surprise. 'What? Why?'

I rolled my eyes, and sighed. 'Because, Aizawa-san, I've had my suspicions on him, too. From the time that the original L had suspected him, to the moment where Near came into the picture, and now, even this "Reaper" person seems to suspect him! Light _has_ to be Kira, and if you're gonna meet Near because you suspect that, too, then I want to come as well!'

He stared at me a moment longer. 'Fine, but be quiet no- Hello, sir. It's me, Shiuichi Aizawa. I want to talk to Near again -in person this time. I hope this is possible? Yes? Good. Also, I will bring one of my co-workers with me, someone who suspects the second L of being Kira, too... good.' He hung up, and turned back to me. 'Well, Iris, let's go, then.'

I nodded, suddenly remembering we'd be checked on weapons or anything else. My Death Note, for example. 'Okay, but... Just give me a minute, need to use a toilet, first. I'll see you outside.'

He rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. 'Fine, but don't be long.'

As I ran off, I called back: 'I said a _minute_, didn't I?' I quickly hid my Death Note somewhere, in a place where I was sure no one else'd see it, and went outside, where Aizawa was impatiently waiting. Without a word, he pulled me along to what was apparently the place he and Rester had decided to meet, and so we waited again. After barely twenty minutes, a car came, and commander Rester got out of it.

'Aizawa-san and...'

'Iris.' I introduced myself.

'And Iris-san. Good. I trust you have no tracking devices, weapons or cameras on you.' He said, scanning us with his gaze. We shook our heads. 'Nothing on us, we promise.'

Rester nodded. 'Good.' He checked everything, anyway. Okay, so this is what being harrassed _might_ feel like? Oh, was I glad when he was done! When we got into the car, both Aizawa and I had to put on blindfolds, and weren't allowed to take them off until we arrived. No, not even then could we take them off. Silent, we followed Rester -I bumped into a wall only twice- and eventually went into what felt like an elevator. I got as dizzy as always in there, and it was only worse because of the blindfold. But then, finally, we got to the right floor, and heard Near's voice for the first time. He sounded less like a woman than in the anime -where, in the English dub, he was actually voiced by a woman!- but still very young.

'Aizawa-san and Iris-san. It's good to meet you.'

'That's all very nice and all,' Aizawa muttered. 'But kinda hard to believe, since we still have to wear these blindfolds!'

Then came commander Rester's voice: 'They have no weapons or cameras on them whatsoever, Near.'

'Very well, you can take them off, then.' Gratefully, we both did. Aizawa, at seeing Near, was shocked. I wasn't, ofcourse. I knew he'd be working on his hand-made puppets of everyone involved in the Kira-case. Right now, he was still working on the little Mello, which looked _really _good. That kid was skilled, in more than just detective work. When Aizawa was finally done staring, he shook his head briefly and said: 'Near, you were right! I've checked, and L and Takada are meeting every night, _and_ passing notes!'

Near didn't move. 'I thought that, yes.' Then he looked at us over his shoulder. 'Aizawa-san, Iris-san, you and the Task Force are already out of the picture. I know who it is that you call "L", and I know who Kira is. All I ask of you two now, is that you keep an eye on him, and inform me if anything... unexpected should happen. And, I want the both of you to be a witness to the end of Kira, which will be soon. Very soon.' He laid his puppets aside, stood up and faced us. He really wasn't very tall for his age, reaching only my shoulder. And I was only 1,67 metres, which isn't really tall, either. 'And something else; I'd like to know if the Task Force has made any attempt at investigating The Reaper Murders. If so, please tell me.'

I nodded. 'There wasn't much to investigate. I've managed to translate the message he has left, and it was one for Kira.'

'Really? Please tell me what it was, then.'

'It was ancient Greek. "_Kira is not a god. Not the sun, god of the day. More like the moon, god of the night."_ The words "Kira", "Is", "Moon", "God", and "Night" were written in capitals, making _Kira is Moon God Night._ We've already found that it might mean Moon NightGod, Light Yagami's name in Kanji. So that would mean that The Reaper suspects Light Yagami of being Kira.'

'And Light Yagami is the Second L, the Second L is Kira. It makes perfect sense. Thank you, Iris-san. I had no idea you could read Greek. Honestly, not even Gevanni or Lidner can, and I couldn't even recognise it as Greek letters. That's very convenient. Here in Japan, Greek isn't really something you learn in school for all I know, and we had nothing of the kind in Wammy's House.'

'In Holland, there are different types of High School. The highest of them, called Gymnasium, has Latin and Greek among the different subjects. I never really thought it might come in handy, but apparently, it did.' I explained.

'Ah, the highest, you say? As in most difficult, the, let's say, "_ultimate_" form of education?' Near demanded, having that creepy smile of his on his face. 'Well well, then you must be quite intelligent, am I right?'

Embarassed, I shrugged. 'Well, er... yes, actually. I don't like bragging or so, but our teachers often called us the "elite students of Holland", so... yeah, kinda.' Indeed, our teachers sometimes had the weirdest names for us. The "creme de la creme of our country", "the number ones of your age". It was oftenly just really embaraasing, while at the same time, it always gave me a good feeling, hearing it. As is obvious now, my reputation among my classmates wasn't particularly great, but at least, my teachers and parents knew what I could do, what I could really be.

But I'm just grateful they didn't know even half of what it was I did. How can one be proud of a daughter who'd have killed her classmate if her demon-boyfriend, a former serial-killer from another dimension, hadn't stopped her just in time, while she has already comitted a murder in that earlier mentioned, _other dimension_? No, I wouldn't kill anyone in my own reality, but in this world... I might just be the one to kill Light, instead of Ryuk. Or be the one to shoot him to pieces, instead of Matsuda. I wouldn't hesitate, like he'd do. The moment he confessed to being Kira, I'd run a bullet through his brain, no questions asked. If only I had a gun, that is.

Near looked at his laptop, that lay on the floor beside his half-finished puppets. Gevanni was trying to get contact. 'Aizawa-san, Iris-san, I am grateful for the information you have given. It is highly useful. Now, I would also appreciate it if you'd leave, I have work to do at the moment. But I look forward to the next time we'll meet.' He smirked again. 'That might just be the day we catch Kira. Together.'

I nodded, and couldn't help but smile as well. It would end soon, the Kira-case. And by that time, there wouldn't be any need for me to remain The Reaper anymore, either.

Right now, however, I had just another message for Kira to write...

* * *

**Well? Did I succeed? Was he more in-character than, for example, L and Mello? Yes? *insert cute smile here***

**Anyway, I hope you liked it, and thanks for reading again!**


	63. Decisions and Hate

**Whee~! I have written a long chapter again! Like, 2187 words! Yay~!**

**Okay, now last chapter, Iris said she'd wirte another message? Well, she has!**

**Oh, and yes; I do have the ending planned out already, and quite honestly, we're getting near. (no, not Near, just near) I have no idea what to write once I have finished this. I did have an idea for the series, and what would've happened if L was female. Just without pairings. I mean, in the anime, when the Task Force first meets L, they're all like "That's him?", and then I imagined L'd say something like: "Him?! What the heck is wrong with your eyes?!"**

**...I've had a good night, thinking of all that. But I doubt it'd make a good fanfic, plus, it's been done a lot, I guess.**

**So I really have no idea! And I've been writing too much here, so let's get on with the story, 'kay?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

'Guys, guys!' Matsuda exclaimed as he came barging into HQ. 'The Reaper! The Reaper has killed again!' He was gasping, as if he has been running all the way from his own home, waving around that newspaper. Imediatly, we all looked up from our work. For once, I hadn't been working alongside Madeline. Instead, she was at the complete other side of the room from where I sat. Since I had followed her to the M-hideout, and confessed to being The Reaper, things hadn't gone too great between us.

This new murder was one I had comitted inly a few hours ago, while taking a nap at noon. I had done that on purpose, ofcourse. In here, it has been twenty-four hours already. And there it was; my new message. It was shorter than the first, but just as clear. Everyone was staring at me questioningly. Except for Mads. Her gaze was more something of blame, disappointment and anger... ofcourse.

I just blinked at the team, shrugged, and said: 'Alright, then. Give me a few minutes, and I'll have it translated for you.' And thus, article in my hands, I sat back down at the desk and began writing. Beyond sat down beside me, and he let out a sigh. It sounded... hurt, almost. 'Iris,' His voice, too, was almost pleading, but angry at the same time. 'Please, let this be the last one. _Please._ I have already told you that I love you, and _only you_, but _this_,' He almost spat the last word as though it was venom, and he just needed to get rid of it. 'This isn't you. And really, I _hate_ this Reaper.'

I looked up at him, but before I could give an answer -whispered, ofcourse- he went on.

'And if you were gonna tell me how The Reaper is _part_ of you, which I do not believe, then that means I hate you, too. Right?' I kept quiet, turning back to my work. 'Right. I don't believe this is really you, Iris. I don't _want_ to believe that. But please, from here on, stop it. Stop this madness.'

His words had hit me, ofcourse. They almost hurt, but I wouldn't let that stop me. If it was necessary to startle Kira a bit more with my words, I would write them again. And The Reaper's ink was just blood, nothing else. Not her own blood, that'd be a waste. And thus, she had to kill to get enough ink. I had to kill.

It took me longer to write everything down than usual. I didn't really have to think while translating it, obviously, but still. Perhaps Beyond's words had gone deeper than I first thought. But after two minutes -I had to make it longer than normal to keep the lie of translating believable- I was done, and brought it to the others.

'What he wrote this time: "_Kira is Moon Night God, as I told thee. But not a real god. But I, unlike him, __**am**__. I am The Reaper, and my next victim is Kira himself._"'

Everyone was silent, staring at me in shock. Aizawa shook his head slowly, muttering; 'That Reaper has gone crazier than he already was.' _Why, thank you!_ However much I wanted to say it after that insult, not even a twitch of my eyes revealed that I had to bite back that retort. But the others just nodded, completely agreeing with him.

What fun we could have, if they'd ever find out that I was The Reaper. Not like I'd ever let them, ofcourse.

* * *

Later that same night, I had decided to visit Naomi, L and Nessa again. I hadn't seen them in a while, and didn't really feel like staying at HQ either, if they kept on throwing insults at me. I'm not crazy, I really _am_ a god!... of death. Actually, I hadn't been here ever since I told them about Beyond's death. I hadn't even seen Nessa that day, so it had been a really long time since I had been able to talk to her. But the moment I came in, I got the usual greeting from the little girl.

'Hi, auntie Iris! I missed you!' Then she jumped up, and hugged me tightly. Her grasp became looser within seconds, though. 'I miss uncle Beyond, too...'

Beside me, Beyond crouched down and smiled at her, his face at the same height as hers. 'I missed you too, sweetheart.' He said, and patted her softly on the head. Ofcourse she didn't see him, or hear him, or even feel him. But somehow, she relaxed a bit again after he said that.

'But I'm glad that you're here, Iris!'

'Yeah, me too.' L said, as he stood on the other end of the hallway. 'Nessa has been complaining and nagging us about when you'd visit again for five days straight now. You really have great timing, as always. I was just thinking that if I heard "where is auntie Iris, why isn't she here?" once more, I would most likely have to fight the urge to strangle her.'

Nessa gasped, and ran over to him, giving his legs the same hug as mine had recieved. 'Why, daddy?!'

He just laughed. 'I was joking, Nessa. I didn't mean it.' The little girl let out a relieved sigh at this, and the three of us went to the living room, where Naomi sat as well. She smiled as she saw me. 'Hi there, Iris! Long time no see!'

I smiled, nodded and sat down beside her, immediatly getting Nessa on my lap again. At least nothing had changed here.

When I heard the front door getting slammed open with a loud bang, I could only think one thing; _Shit. Spoke too soon._

L instantly got up again, going to the hallway, where he was thrown against a wall the moment he came in there, a gun at his head. Naomi and I ran over to him as well, followed more slowly by a terrified Nessa. Through clenched teeth, L spat: 'Damnit, Mello! What the hell is wrong with you?' And he was right; it was Mello, Matt somewhere behind him.

_Has Madeline told them where L and Naomi live? Or have they found out themselves?_ I hardly had time to think. Naomi had tried to lunge at Mello, knocking the gun from his hands. Instead, the blonde just pulled a second gun and pointed it at her. Somewhere behind me, Nessa let out a terrified whimper, and she hid behind my legs, clenching her hand around them so tight, it almost hurt. The poor little girl, having to see this.

'What's wrong with me?' Mello asked, glaring at L. 'What is wrong with _you_?! You know the Kira-case is going on still, and getting worse, yet you do nothing! Have you never considered that, if you had stayed on the investigation, the case might well be solved already?!' He now laid his finger on the trigger, but didn't pull it yet. And he wouldn't. One quick glance at L's lifespan told me that much. It hadn't changed in any way; still twenty-seven years left. And Naomi had even more. 'And I thought you were supposed to be our role-model, the one person we had to follow.' Mello went on, narrowing his eyes even further. 'That we had to give our lives for cases if necessary, like _you'd_ have done! What a_ joke_!'

L flinched for a moment, but then returned the glare. 'I _did_ die for the Kira-case, Mello! I _died_ for this case, but was given a second chance! And I would've damned _nuts_ if I hadn't taken that chance!'

Nessa was now looking from behind my legs again, and let out another whimper as she saw the guns were still at her parents' heads. This time, though, Mello noticed her. For a moment, he only stared, but then his ice-blue eyes began shining with some emotion I couldn't read. I only knew that it'd mean trouble. 'Well well,' He said slowly. 'Let me guess; that's the reason you left? How cute...' He moved the guns away from Naomi and L, and pointed them at the little kid, instead. Damn, the guy was sick! 'But maybe, if we get rid of that, you might come back, huh? Shall we try?' Again, he moved his fingers to both triggers, and Nessa started crying. But she didn't run away, as I had thought she would. But L was faster than Mello, kickiing the younger man under his jaw, making him fall backwards against a wall. Matt, who hadn't moved yet, now stepped calmly closer and leaned down to the two weapons Mello had dropped. L had been pinning the blonde against the wall, but the moment he saw Matt getting closer, he glared at the gamer with the most venomous eyes I had ever seen. 'Don't you dare get close to Nessa or Naomi, Matt!' He said, growling. Instantly, Matt held his hands above his head. 'Whoa, calm down, dude! I'm not gonna do anything! I just want those guns. At least Mello can't use them if I have them, right?'

L still glared at him, but did nothing. But Mello tried to get away now, and exclaimed: 'Matt! Damnit, who's side are you on?'

'My own.' Answered the gamer. 'I thought it was fine if you'd visit our old mentor, but I didn't know you had brought your guns as well. And if you start threatening little kids, you must've gone crazy. It's unlike you, Mels.' He then put the two weapons in his pockets, one each, and leaned down beside Nessa, who backed away. 'Matt...' L growled threateningly, not looking away from Mello. 'Get away from her._ Now_.'

But Matt didn't listen. He kept looking at Nessa, and began to smile. 'Hey there! I'm Matt. I'm sorry if my friend scared you with what he did, he's usually not like that. We'll leave now, okay? He won't bother you and your parents again, I promise.'

Slowly, Nessa nodded. 'Really? A promise?' She demanded, her voice still shaking as much as she was, herself.

Matt nodded and smiled only wider. 'Yeah, promise.' Then he got up again, and looked at Mello. 'let's get out of here, dude. You've just practically screwed yourself, and uh...' He pointed at Mello's scars. They had reopened at his chin, where he had been kicked by L. 'You might want to get somethng for that, just to make sure it won't get infected again.'

Mello, still pinned to the wall, rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, right.'

'I'm serious, dude.' Matt insisted, before turning to Naomi and L. 'Hey, I meant it when I said I'm sorry for what Mels did. We'll just leave again, and I'll steal the key to his chocolate stack for the coming days again, as a punishment. Okay? We, uh... won't come here again. I swear.' L didn't seem to care what he said, and was almost choking Mello now. Naomi, who noticed that only now, quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back. 'L, please... don't become a killer yourself. Let them go, I think Matt was being honest just now.'

For a moment, L didn't react. But then he relaxed again, or at least a bit. 'Fine. But Mello,' He added, glaring at his former friend again. 'If you threaten my daughter once more, I'll make sure you'll wish you had died that day you blew up your hideout in America, got it?'

Mello narrowed his eyes. 'Sure. Whatever, L.' And was then pulled outside by Matt, who was muttering things to him about how he had crossed the line this time. Nessa, who was now in Naomi's arms, had stopped trembling, but still refused to not have her face hidden in her mother's hair. L slammed his fist against the wall, exactly where Mello had stood a minute ago, and then went back to the living room, still with a face as though he'd kill anything that came through the front door now. Slowly, Naomi and Nessa, and Beyond and I too, went back to where we had sat before Mello came, as well. L had his shoulders drawn up, hand still clenched into fists and his teeth bared in a soundless growl. If I had ever seen him extremely furious, it was now. 'Okay, that's _it!_' He muttered after a minute.

'What?' Naomi asked, looking at him in surprise. 'What do you mean?'

'I'll get back to the Kira investigation.'

Now, Naomi gasped and jumped to her feet -Nessa had settled herself on my lap again. 'What?! No! You can't be serious, what if you get killed?!'

L looked up at her, and began to smile again. 'I won't, Naomi. A Death Note can't kill me anymore now.'

'But what if you get shot, or killed otherwise?! And what about Light Yagami?!'

'I'll be fine. My lifespan is still long enough. Am I right...' L said, slowly turning his gaze to me. Or, actually, beside me. '...Beyond.'

* * *

**Yush, Mello! Never, ever threaten someone's children, they'll get angry like hell!**

**Oh, and L can see Beyond? Yes he can. I'll explain in the next chapter.**

**So thanks for reading again, I hope you liked it, and next chap will be up soon! (although, in two days, school will start again. WHY, Kami-sama, WHY!)**


	64. Time to Explain

**Okay, so L can see Beyond? Yes. Yes he can Because he's been dead already. That's why.**

**And it's time for some more explanations;**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I gaped at L, and so did Naomi and Beyond. Little Nessa just didn't really seem to follow, after what had just happened, with Mello and Matt, and those two guns. It wouldn't surprise me if she'd stay awake because of nightmares for a week.

'Beyond?' Naomi gasped. 'L, what are you talking about? Beyond is _dead_!'

L just shrugged. 'I know. But hey, so was I, for half a week. And I'm not saying he's alive again, like I am, but he's still here.' He turned back to Beyond. 'And if I'm not mistaken... you're a Shinigami now, aren't you?'

Beyond nodded slowly, still confused and stunned. That nodding went over to shaking his head slowly, gaze fixed on the ground. 'Damn you, L.' He muttered. 'You're too good at keeping silent...'

'Thanks.'

'That wasn't a complement.'

'Whatever.'

Now Naomi got into it again. 'Okay, this does sound like you're talking to Beyond -you always said things like that when having a conversation with him- but... how? You said he's a... Shinigami?' She looked at me with questionning blue-gray eyes. Nessa's high-pitched voice quietly asked: 'What's a Shinigami?' But no one answered her.

I sighed, and said: 'Yeah, he's a Shinigami now. Remember that he was born with the Shinigami Eyes? That made him half-Shinigami, so after his death, he'd become a real Shinigami. And that's exactly what happened.'

'But don't you need a Death Note to see a Shinigami?' She demanded after a moment of silence, in which she let herself take some time to comprehend what was going on here. I bit my lip at this, and reluctantly pulled my notebook from under my shirt, presenting it to them.

'I haven't written a single name in it, I only keep it because I want to be with Beyond.' I mumbled as both Naomi and L looked at me, their expressions making it clear they demanded an explanation for the murdering notebook in my posession. Naomi then reached out for it, only letting the tips of her finger brush against the demonic thing, and then looked up to see Beyond sitting beside me, who was smiling nervously, looking a bit like Matsuda just now.

'Heheh... hi, Naomi! Long time no see, huh?' He started laughing now. Okay, definitely like Matsuda. Naomi nodded. 'Yeah, it's been a while...' And they fell silent again, staring at eachother. Nessa had jumped down from my lap, and was bouncing up and down beside the couch now. 'What is going on? I want that notebook, too! I want it, too!' She demanded. I looked at L and Naomi, who hesitated at first but then nodded, and let the little girl touch the notebook. The moment she saw Beyond, her eyes grew huge, and slowly, she began to smile. A smile that grew bigger with the second, until she launched herself at him, slamming into his chest, wrapped her short arms around his neck and squealed like crazy. 'Uncle Beyond! I missed you! I missed you!' Then she let herself drop into somewhat of a human-ball on his lap, closed her eyes, and looked like she was about to fall asleep there. A two word discription? I have several. Extremely cute. "Aww" triggering. Perhaps even heart-breaking. It made a wave of warmh go through me, and for a moment, I could think only one simple thing: _And now the family's complete again._

A family? Well, I guess we were like one. That thought created an image that I did not particularly dislike. Not at all. I could already picture myself and Beyond, living just like Naomi and L did now, nice house, good life together, perhaps even children.

Oh, if only he wasn't... Shinigami...

Like me...

Well, perhaps it was possible. He looked human, or at least a lot more than most Shinigami I had seen, so why not? Ryuk had been human, but he without a doubt not one anymore. With Beyond, that was questionable. Suddenly, I whished Rem was still alive. She could've told me so much about it, I knew that for sure. Damnit, Light, another thing you ruined for me!

My earlier thoughts had sparked one other thing in me; the desire to tell L and Naomi what and who I really was. Would they accept it? They accepted all this so far already, but the last important things, too? I wasn't sure. Yet, I just decided to tell them anyway.

Once I had gotten their attention, I began. 'Okay, er... the only person I have ever told this is Beyond, but... I, er, want you two to know as well. I'm a half-Shinigami as well, like Beyond.' This was definitely not why they had expected to hear. Their eyes were so wide, I was afraid that they had the risk of popping out if they moved even a nano-metre more.

'You? Half-Shinigami?' L repeated. 'Damnit, I was already afraid you were gonna tell us something like "I'm Kira", but...'

'Does "I'm The Reaper" count as something like that, too? Because... it's true. I'm... sorry.' I mumbled, my voice barely more than a whisper. 'I'm really sorry...' Whatever I had said earlier, this was true now, too. I was really sorry for the two lives I had taken. Criminals, ofcourse, like Kira did, but still human lives. As for Naomi and L, and Madeline and Beyond, and everyone else... they have simply trusted the wrong person all this time.

_No. Shut up. There was nothing wrong with what you did, there are so many people who have taken others' lives, so why not you, too? And besides, the two people you have killed were criminals on parol. They have killed more people than you have, they deserved it. They deserved to be executed, and it was a shame the government failed to see that. You did the right thing._ I pushed this inner voice to the back of my conscience, trying to get rid of it completely. It was wrong. But I failed, I simply couldn't do it. I managed not to listen to it, ignore it for now, but it was still there.

'What?!' Naomi's voice was hoarse and quiet as she gasped in shock, and L's reaction wasn't much different. '_You're_ The Reaper?'

'_How could you_? How in the world could you kill people, Iris?'

I let my head hang, had my shoulders drawn up and tried to shrink away as much as I possibly could under their gazes. They had exactly the same look in there eyes as Madeline and Beyond had. Anger, shock, disappointment and betrayal. 'I don't know.' I whispered. 'I-I'm sorry...'

'That doesn't bring those people back, Iris!'

'I know! I-I know... I'm really s-sorry...' Tears welled up in my eyes, and I bit my lip so hard it began to bleed. 'I don't even know why I did it... no, that's not true... I know why, but it's such a stupid reason... so senseless...' Then it was quiet for a while, apart from the few sobs that broke from my lips, no matter how hard I tried to keep them back.

'Anything else you need to tell us, Iris?' L demanded after a few minutes.

I nodded, but when I opened my mouth to speak, only another sob came out. Carefully as to not wake up Nessa, who had actually -thank goodness- fallen alseep, Beyond leaned over to me and held me tightly in his arms, whispering: 'It's okay, Iris. I'm glad you decided to tell the truth now. It's okay, really.'

Somehow I managed to twist my mouth into a little smile, and I found my voice back. 'Y-yes, there is one more thing.' As I saw the looks in their eyes, I quickly added: 'Not a single crime, I swear! It's just that... You may believe me, you may not, it's your chouce but... I'm not from this world, this dimension. In the world where I come from, you, and everything that happens here, is litteraly fiction. It's a manga and anime series, called Death Note. Somehow, I come here in my dreams, but when I wake up again, my body in this world... dissolves, I think. That's why I always leave after little a day, give or take a few hours. And in that series, it's all about the Kira-case. It's starts when Light, or Kira, picks up the Death Note for the first time, and decides to use it to cleanse this world. In the second episode, or end of the first chapter, you come in.' As I said this, I looked at L. 'Your meeting with the ICPO, and the whole Lind L. Tailor thing. You're face is first shown in episode five, the first meeting with the Task Force. And you, Naomi, first appear in episode four, when you're still with Ray Penber. And in episode seven, Light kills you. But, just like I prevented L's death, and, even though he died later on, Beyond's, I saved you. And when you had that heart attack, L, you were supposed to die within seconds. The only reason I let you slip was because you seemed to be in agony, and I didn't want that...'

'It was quite an agony, indeed.' He agreed, nodding. His gaze was distant, just like Naomi's, as though they didn't get a single word I was saying. But I just went on.

'And five years after your death, Mello and Near would come into the picture, continuing the case from where you left off. Somewhat. Actually, they pretty much had to start over again, but there was a lot of information they could get from the things you had investigated. In the end, Mello died, and because of what Mello had done -what he had given his life for- Near had evidence that Light Yagami was Kira, and so, the Kira-case ended. Light was shot several times by Matsuda, but managed to flee. But a few minutes later, he was killed by the Shinigami Ryuk, and his Death Note. And that's the end of the series. I don't know for sure what'll happen after that, but I think the world will go back to what it used to be, before Kira.'

Both Naomi and L stared at me for a few moments, when L suddenly burst out laughing. 'I always knew you were a weirdo!' He managed to say despite the laughter.

'It's true!' I protested. 'It's all true, how weird it may be!'

'I know that, silly! I believe you, really. It's just... it makes perfect sense, you know! It definitely explains everything, that's for sure!' When Naomi nodded, agreeing with him, L added: 'And was I really supposed to die at twenty-five? Those writers are cruel. God, am I glad I reached thirty!'

We talked a bit more after this. Ofcourse they didn't forgive me for the murders I had comitted -I wouldn't, either- but at least they accepted everything else for what it was. Girl from another dimension? Fine. Half-Shinigami? Oh, that's cool. How L could see Beyond all this time, I have no idea. Perhaps because he had died already, once? Whatever, that wasn't what I had on my mind now, anyway.

I hoped my other, my real family would accept this story as well as Naomi and L did.

* * *

**Tomorrow, school will start again. *sigh*... I'll have to wait for the holidays before I can really work on this again a lot. But I will most likely finish the stoy sooner than that'll happen, anyway!**

**And Iris is slowly becoming herself again, than goodness!**

**I hope you liked it, and thanks for reading.**


	65. Two Weeks

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday! And it's a short chapter, as well.**

**Oh, well...**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

I flopped down on the couch in my bedroom, sighed and let out a whimper. I had only just been thinking of what to say to my family, how to explain the way my life has been for the past three years, when my mind went fuzzy and wild with panic. In the end, I couldn't even bring the words "there's something I need to tell you guys" over my lips, though I had been thinking that this might not have been the right way to start, anyway. I mean, they might come with reactions such as: "Oh my god, you're gonna die!" "What illness is it?" "Do you finally have a boyfriend" or even "Oh, Iris... I never expected this from you... you're pregnant, aren't you? You're only sixteen!"

Good lord, that would've been hell...

More quietly and definitely calmer, Beyond sat down beside me as usual. 'Something wrong, Strawberry?' He said as smoothly and kind as ever. God, I loved him...

'I couldn't do it, Beyond!' I whined, pulling my knees up and planting my face on them. I really wanted to slap myself now. 'I just couldn't do it! I had was able to tell you, and Madeline, and Naomi and L, too... but I'm too much a whimp to tell my own family! How stupid is that? Does it mean that I feel safer with all of you than with my own parents?'

He shrugged. 'Perhaps. But I don't really think so. It's probably because you just don't want to hurt them, and that's all.'

I considered this, then nodded. 'Yeah, probably.' Slowly, I relaxed a bit more again. Really, Beyond could always get me in a better mood, wether I was angry, sad or even happy already. He always made it better. Which made me miss him only more than I already did, and I couldn't help but ask the one question that has been on my mind ever since last night. 'Beyond, are you really a Shinigami already? Like, a complete Shinigami?'

For a moment, his gaze was filled with confusement, but then he just smiled. 'No, ofcourse not! What, do you think we're human one moment, we die, and next thing we know, we're completely a Shinigami already? No, that apparently takes about a century. It's quite a slow progress, really. Over the next decades, I'll become less and less human, until there's not a trace of it left.' When he saw my expression -I was disappointed, ofcourse. I wanted him to stay like this forever- he smiled only wider and kissed me. I still had to get used to his fangs, but they weren't a real nuisance at all. It only made the feeling... different.

When we parted again, I asked, just to make sure: 'So... you're still human?'

He rolled his scarlet eyes in response, and made his wings appear, spreading them as though he was about to take off. 'Well, for the most part, yes.' He then retracted his bat-like wings again, and looked at me. 'Why?'

I didn't answer that question. Well, not with words, that is. The moment he saw the look in my eyes, and figured it out, he laughed, and shook his head slowly, amused. 'Yeah, ofcourse. _That's _the first thing you think about...'

'It not the _first_ thing!' I protested, holding back some laughter myself. 'It's just... it's been a _while_, Beyond. Too long. Please?'

This only made him laugh more. 'And now she's begging! Great!' He said to himself, before turning to me. 'Iris, for such a thing, you never say _please_. Never.'

'Why not?'

He kissed me again, and I could feel him smirk. 'Just because it's unnecessary, that's why.'

* * *

Beyond and I both arrived a little... late this night. But that doesn't really matter. It was still quite a few days away from the moment where Matt and Mello'd kidnap Kiyomi Takada and die -I had no intention of saving them, whatsoever, though I didn't dislike Matt like I did Mello- and apparently, Near and the Task Force had just chosen a date to meet eachother and end the Kira-case. Which was a week or so away. So us being late, it didn't really matter much. I wasn't really needed on the team right now, anyway.

And so, it didn't take us long at all to find ourselves in Naomi and L's livingroom once again, Nessa playing with Beyond's wings now. And as for Naomi and L, they were busy asking me questions.

A lot of questions.

'So, Near has arranged a meeting with the Task Force?'

I nodded. 'Yes. That's the day Light will be caught... and killed.'

This made a smile appear on L's face. 'He'll be killed? Finally! By who, if I may ask?'

'He'll be shot by Matsuda, and Ryuk will write him down in his notebook. In the anime, just before he died, your spirit came to Light, but your face was covered, so I don't know the exact reason why you did that. But my guess, is that you grinned at him in his last moments the same way he did to you.' Oh god, now L was smirking... creepy! Ofcourse, when Naomi saw that, she gave him a rather rough poke on the shoulder. 'Don't smile, even though he deserves to die! It's just... wrong.'

'Sorry...' He muttered something else under his breath, which I couldn't even hear, and then he turned back to me. 'So, that meeting; when and where?'

I blinked at him in surprise. 'What? You mean, you want to be there as well? Why?'

L simply shrugged. 'I was the one who started working on this case, and I want to witness the closing of it, too. And besides, Mello was right; I can't continue doing nothing while I know that this case might well have been solved already, had I not left.'

I sighed. Ofcourse... 'January twenty-eighth, in the Yellowbox Warehouse, close to the harbor.'

'The twenty-eighth? Two weeks, then...' Naomi mumbled. 'That's... soon. You're sure Kira'll get killed?'

I nodded. 'No doubt. He does so in both the anime and manga, and in the live-action movies, though under different circumstances... I'm very sure. I can't imagine a thing I have done to not get him killed, so yeah.' I hoped this was true. But what would also happen, in only twelve days from now, was Mello and Matt kidnapping Kiyomi Takada, and getting killed.

I was also wondering for the last two days; what happens when this story reaches the end of the series? I have no idea.

But whatever would happen in the coming two weeks, I would find out at the end of them.

* * *

**Yup, it's getting really close now! Just two or three more chapters, I guess.**

**BUT I already have an idea for a sequel, which'll be called "One Bridge Apart"**

**-Unless I think of a better one, that is.**

**So it won't completely end, not at all!**

**Thanks for reading again, and I hope you liked it!**


	66. Broken

**Okay, at least this one is longer again!**

**Oh, and since I've been asked twice already; Yes, I _do_ sleep XD. I just write fast. This chapter was done in approximately 90 to 100 minutes, and that'd be a lot already...**

**So yeah, I'm not really an insomniac... I guess.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

It was Saturday, and I was hanging out in the park with Mads. We had both decided that we might want to see eachother a bit more outside the other world, without the stress and other shit from that place that made only bigger cracks in our friendship.

'You know, Mads,' I said as we passed a wooden bench there. 'That was the first place I had met Taro Kagami. I wonder what happened to him; I haven't seen him in almost two years, you know.'

'I thought this was supposed to be a Death Note-free afternoon?' She answered, the held-back laughter clearly audible in her voice. 'But that's okay... I wonder, too. You told me quite a bit about him.' Her gaze then travelled to the ground as we walked further. 'I wonder what'll happen to us, and everyone else, once the case is closed, as well.'

Yes, so do I. I don't think this is something you can find on the internet, or ask someone else about, is it? "Hey, if you live a second life in another dimension, a story, and that story ends, what happens?"

With the changes Madeline and I had made there, perhaps it'll just go on? Or it'll disappear? Hell, I have no idea. I hope it's the first, though. I'd miss L, and Naomi, and Nessa. And even Matsuda, who's idiotic mistakes were always fun, however frustrating they could be, as well.

In fact, I think I might just want to stay in that world, instead of this one...

Hell, no! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid thoughts, Iris! _This_ is your life, wether you like it or not! This is it, nothing else! And besides, in this world, at least you're not a criminal and won't end up in jail if people ever found out what you did in that other world, hell, they don't care what one does in her dreams! Now, in that other world... though it was harldy possible, with the lack of clues I left behind, should _anyone_ ever figure out I'm The Reaper, I might just get a life-sentence. There you go; have a nice day of school/work, nice afternoon at home, fall asleep, BAM! Prison. Or asylum, whatever. No, I wouldn't like that.

Oh, hey, Mads was right; this _was_ supposed to be Death Note-free, wasn't it? And there I go break my own rules again, just great. And besides, it'd never be Death Note-free anymore; Beyond was following me like a shadow, wherever I went. One thing I didn't mind, ofcourse, but no way I can escape that other world, that other life now. No. Firckin'. Way... At all...

And I would never be able to escape it, forget it all. Not if I didn't give up Beyond by forfeiting ownership of my Death Note. That price was a little too high for me to pay.

I pushed all those thoughts aside and walked on with Madeline beside me, finally talking about something else than our other lives. Finally...

Until we finished our stroll and were about to go home again, that is.

'So, Iris,' Mads began. 'Have you already thought of how to save Mello and Matt?'

Oh, just great. Just. Great. 'No.'

She halted, looking at me in dismay. 'N-no? Why not?!'

I shrugged, and closed my eyes. 'I'm not going to, that's why.'

'What the hell?!' Mads exclaimed, angrier than I had heard her in a long time. 'Why not!? You've saved L and Naomi and Beyond... twice! Why not them as well?'

I looked away now. 'Because I hate Mello, with everything he's done. Matt is okay, but if I save Matt, then I'll probably have to keep that blonde bastard alive as well, and I just don't feel like it.'

'Why would you hate him, damnit?!'

I gritted my teeth, and began to yell now, too. 'Because he was the very reason Beyond has died, for one!'

Madeline looked like she'd explode any moment now, and almost kill me in a frenzy of crazed punches and kicks... as if she'd ever beat me! 'Well, Mello did you a favor with that! At least your _precious Beyond_ is with you every second of the god damned day now!'

'That's not all he's done, Mads!' I screamed back. 'He broke into L and Naomi's house, threatened them with a gun until he saw Nessa, who was practically bawling her eyes out in fear behind me! And you know what he did then? He pointed both fucking guns _at Nessa_!'

For a moment, she looked stunned, not knowing what to say. But then; 'Oh, you should talk, _miss Reaper_! At least Mello hasn't killed any of them. You_ have _comitted murders, damnit!'

I glared at her a moment longer, fighting back the urge to punch all her teeth out, and managed to just turn around and walk away. 'Oh, forget it! I don't care if _I _killed two people or not, so long as Mello will _burn in hell.'_

I didn't utter another word, didn't look back at her at all. This afternoon was supposed to have reinforced our friendship, restore it slowly, but it hadn't done so at all.

In fact...

...it was _broken_.It was Saturday, and I was hanging out in the park with Mads. We had both decided that we might want to see eachother a bit more outside the other world, without the stress and other shit from that place that made only bigger cracks in our friendship.

'You know, Mads,' I said as we passed a wooden bench there. 'That was the first place I had met Taro Kagami. I wonder what happened to him; I haven't seen him in almost two years, you know.'

'I thought this was supposed to be a Death Note-free afternoon?' She answered, the held-back laughter clearly audible in her voice. 'But that's okay... I wonder, too. You told me quite a bit about him.' Her gaze then travelled to the ground as we walked further. 'I wonder what'll happen to us, and everyone else, once the case is closed, as well.'

Yes, so do I. I don't think this is something you can find on the internet, or ask someone else about, is it? "Hey, if you live a second life in another dimension, a story, and that story ends, what happens?"

With the changes Madeline and I had made there, perhaps it'll just go on? Or it'll disappear? Hell, I have no idea. I hope it's the first, though. I'd miss L, and Naomi, and Nessa. And even Matsuda, who's idiotic mistakes were always fun, however frustrating they could be, as well.

In fact, I think I might just want to stay in that world, instead of this one...

Hell, no! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid thoughts, Iris! _This_ is your life, wether you like it or not! This is it, nothing else! And besides, in this world, at least you're not a criminal and won't end up in jail if people ever found out what you did in that other world, hell, they don't care what one does in her dreams! Now, in that other world... though it was harldy possible, with the lack of clues I left behind, should _anyone_ ever figure out I'm The Reaper, I might just get a life-sentence. There you go; have a nice day of school/work, nice afternoon at home, fall asleep, BAM! Prison. Or asylum, whatever. No, I wouldn't like that.

Oh, hey, Mads was right; this _was_ supposed to be Death Note-free, wasn't it? And there I go break my own rules again, just great. And besides, it'd never be Death Note-free anymore; Beyond was following me like a shadow, wherever I went. One thing I didn't mind, ofcourse, but no way I can escape that other world, that other life now. No. Firckin'. Way... At all...

And I would never be able to escape it, forget it all. Not if I didn't give up Beyond by forfeiting ownership of my Death Note. That price was a little too high for me to pay.

I pushed all those thoughts aside and walked on with Madeline beside me, finally talking about something else than our other lives. Finally...

Until we finished our stroll and were about to go home again, that is.

'So, Iris,' Mads began. 'Have you already thought of how to save Mello and Matt?'

Oh, just great. Just. Great. 'No.'

She halted, looking at me in dismay. 'N-no? Why not?!'

I shrugged, and closed my eyes. 'I'm not going to, that's why.'

'What the hell?!' Mads exclaimed, angrier than I had heard her in a long time. 'Why not!? You've saved L and Naomi and Beyond... twice! Why not them as well?'

I looked away now. 'Because I hate Mello, with everything he's done. Matt is okay, but if I save Matt, then I'll probably have to keep that blonde bastard alive as well, and I just don't feel like it.'

'Why would you hate him, damnit?!'

I gritted my teeth, and began to yell now, too. 'Because he was the very reason Beyond has died, for one!'

Madeline looked like she'd explode any moment now, and almost kill me in a frenzy of crazed punches and kicks... as if she'd ever beat me! 'Well, Mello did you a favor with that! At least your _precious Beyond_ is with you every second of the god damned day now!'

'That's not all he's done, Mads!' I screamed back. 'He broke into L and Naomi's house, threatened them with a gun until he saw Nessa, who was practically bawling her eyes out in fear behind me! And you know what he did then? He pointed both fucking guns _at Nessa_!'

For a moment, she looked stunned, not knowing what to say. But then; 'Oh, you should talk, _miss Reaper_! At least Mello hasn't killed any of them. You_ have _comitted murders, damnit!'

I glared at her a moment longer, fighting back the urge to punch all her teeth out, and managed to just turn around and walk away. 'Oh, forget it! I don't care if _I _killed two people or not, so long as Mello will _burn in hell.'_

I didn't utter another word, didn't look back at her at all. This afternoon was supposed to have reinforced our friendship, restore it slowly, but it hadn't done so at all.

In fact...

...it was _broken_.

* * *

**...Sorry, -real- Madeline!**

**It was necessary for the plot, I swear!**

**Please don't kill me in school tomorrow!**

**Well, uh... I hope you liked it~!**


	67. Twenty-six

**Hmm... this chapter looked longer on Word, sorry. But it's still a... decent length.**

**Okay, now I really think I might make it to chapter 70, but probably no further than that. Yup.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

January twenty-sixth. Well, it was today, alright. Today, Mello and Matt would die, along with Kiyomi Takada. But first, there was something else.

Near called us.

'_L,_'

We all looked up, and Light answered. 'Near? What is it?'

'_About that meeting of us, in two days; I just wanted to add that every single investigator of both teams -that is, the Task Force and the SPK- to be present. As I've told you already, there are four members on the SPK, including me. As for Mogi-san, we'll bring him with us so he can join you when you arrive. And Amane-san will be released, as well. I presume this is acceptable?'_

'Everyone should be present? Yes, ofcourse, Near.' Light answered. 'And thank you for releasing Misa and Mogi-san.'

'_Very well. And one more thing, L-number-two...'_ What? He has more to say? No, that... that's not what happens in the anime! Then what-

My question was answered before I could even finish thinking it; Beside the cloister-black N appeared an L, and a new, yet familiar mechanical-voice spoke.

It was L, the real L!

'_I hope you won't mind if I attend the meeting as well, Yagami-san.'_

Everyone gasped in shock, and Light demanded; 'What? What are you talking about? Is this some sort of joke, Near?' In response to this, the screens changed to a camera-recording, and L became visible, sitting on a chair in the SPK's HQ. He blinked once, then smirked.

_'I don't joke about such things, Light_.' The voice was now replaced by his own, and I couldn't help but look at Light. His expression was hilarious, really. I think he had never been so shocked in his whole damned life, except for maybe the day he was at To-oh, and L sat beside him, rambling away and suddenly saying "I'm L". No, even then, it wasn't _this_ bad.

'_Oh? Why so silent now, Light?'_ Came L's voice again, his grey eyes twinkling with amusement. '_Are you... surprised, maybe? Or perhaps even disappointed? Oh, I don't blame you; I can play dead quite well, hm?_'

Light was stammering things, before he shook his head and controlled himself. 'Play dead, L? You mean you never died at all?'

'_...Well, no, but... that's quite a long story, perhaps I'll tell you sometime._' He smirked again as he added; '_If you live that long, that is... Kira._'

I heard Madeline whisper behind me; 'Damnit, L, have you gone crazy? You might get yourself killed, idiot!' Matsuda, too, muttered a thing or two. Aizawa and Ide were as stunned as Light, for they hadn't heard about L being alive yet, either. Okay, I knew L was going to be there, but I agreed with Madeline now. He was being an idiot right now.

'Kira? You still believe it's me, L?' Light demanded, fighting to stay calm.

L rolled his eyes and sighed. '_Yes, damnit, is that not obvious? I've always suspected you, moron...'_

'Well... that's a different attitude...' Aizawa mumbled.

'_Heh, yes, I know!_' L laughed. '_Death does that to people, y'know? But that doesn't matter. Yes, Light, I have always suspected you, and so does Near, and Mello, and even The Reaper. And if I'm not mistaken, the members of the Task Force are beginning to doubt you as well, aren't they?'_

An uneasy mumbling filled the room now, and Light glanced around, facing each investigator one at a time. He only shrugged. 'Well, that's okay. I've become used to being under a cloud of suspicion...'

L laughed once again. '_Yeah, I can understand that! At least that suspicion was righteous, though.'_ Then he stood up, and smiled at all of us once. '_Well, I look forward to seeing all of you again!... with exception of you, Yagami-san. Sorry._' Then the screens went black, and the contact with Near and L was broken off again.

Total silence filled the room, until Aizawa mumbled; 'Well... that was... unexpected...'

Everyone else nodded, except for me. I just shrugged, and smiled. This made me recieve a questionning glare from Light, ofcourse. 'Iris? What is it?...Did you already know L was still alive?'

I giggled. 'Yup! Known it for a damned good while already! I've been visiting him and Naomi and Nessa for five years now! Sorry I never told you.' _Sorry my ass._

'...' He was silent now, staring at me. As were Ide and Aizawa, same expression. 'Five years? And you never told anyone?'

I laughed again, and shook my head. 'No, Madeline knew as well, and earlier this year, I told Matsuda, Mogi and Yagami-san, too. Just not you, that's all.'

'Or us.' Aizawa added. 'Who is Nessa, by the way?' Again, _that_ question. Wasn't it obvious, darnit?

'They're daughter.' Matsuda quickly answered, and a smile appeared on his face now. 'That girl's just too cute! When we went there, she opened the door for us and went all like "Auntie Iris, uncle Beyond and Mady-mads! Hi!"... she's so damn cute.'

I blinked at him, almost getting worried. He was practically in a "Nessa is cute" trance or something! Well, that was the effect the little girl had on most people, ofcourse.

Madeline had just turned on the tv, and suddenly, the sound of a gunshot filled the room. 'What the hell?!'

Yup. The kidnapping of Takada had begun now. Awesome.

Everyone instantly jerked their gazes to the tv screen, forgetting everything that happened just now for a moment.

'NHN is being attacked?!'

'But... isn't Takada there right now?!'

I stayed silent as the others all panicked, trying to figure out what to do. 'Is this Near's doing again?'

Light quickly went to one of the computers, and began typing like crazy. Within seconds, he had contact with Near again.

'_...I already thought you'd call me now._' The albino's voice came. '_And I know why; no, I have nothing to do with the kidnapping of miss Takada or the attack on NHN at all._'

Light stayed quiet, only narrowing his eyes at the cloister-black N. This silence was clearly a question, though. One that Near immediatly understood. '_And no, L didn't do it either. It was probably Mello, so go after him instead_.'

And with that, he left once again. Not really his style of ending a conversation, but whatever. It didn't matter, anyway. When Light came back to the rest of us, he said: 'Well, Near was right; it's probably Mello who's behind this. As for what we can do now, I'll try to contact Takada-san and see if she knows her location. If I can get a hold of her, and she can tell me, we'll go after her and Mello. Is that acceptable?'

Everyone nodded, and Matsuda complained; 'Damnit, I had hoped we wouldn't see anything of Mello again! But that was a stupid thing to hope for, anyway...' Indeed. If there was one thing the Task Force knew about Mello, it was that he was the most persistent pest we have encountered in a while, except for Kira.

I let my gaze travel over the Task Force, who were all intently watching either the live news broadcast, or Light as he tried to reach Takada.

It was only then that I noticed Madeline was gone.

* * *

**...**

**And that's it for this chapter!**

**I hope you liked it, and thanks for reading~!**


	68. Triple M Trouble

**Whee~! I made a longer chapter again~! Almost two thousand words for this one.**

**Plus, it's a _special_ one!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

**~Madeline's PoV~**

Oh really, ofcourse I left that stupid HQ! If Iris isn't going to save Mello and Matt, I am! The stupid bitch, saving all _her_ favorite characters and friends' lives, and when _my_ two friends need help, she does nothing!

Now remember, Madeline... remember where the NHN building is, the way Matt drove, and which way Mello went...

And choose. Who needs help first? I mean, Matt is the first to die in the anime, but Mello is further away, takes longer to reach. Where the hell do I go, after I've found NHN? The chocolate-addicted blonde, or the redhead gamer? Damn, they were both close to me, I loved them both -like friends! Just like friends!- and I wanted neither of them to die. But even _if_ I manage to save one of them, the other one will die, anyway...

Fuck you, fate.

Okay, for now, just run, get to NHN. We'll see what to do from there on. Just get to NHN.

I was running so hard, my lungs felt as though they were on fire and my throat was as dry as the Sahara when I finally got to the damn building. But ofcourse, it didn't end there. Mello went, for all I knew, the opposite direction of Matt. But... I wasn't sure. What I did see, were tracks left by Matt's tires. Okay, so I should follow those, and I'll reach him. Okay, be quick, Madeline. Run as though the wind's carrying you!... Oh, if only it did...

I didn't even _feel_ my legs anymore, as I ran beside the dark lines on the road. I hardly noticed the pain in my throat and chest anymore, either. My whole mind was focused on just one simple thing; _Find Matt!_

But how in the world would I be able to keep up with a car by foot? Hell, what was I thinking?! I can't ever do this, not in a million years will I be able to run fast enough to catch up with Matt!

Oh. Spoke too soon, it seems. Right there, left of me, was an alley that led to another part of the road, where I saw several of Takada's bodyguards' cars standing in a row, blocking the traffic completely. And damn, I had been following the wrong tracks! Matt's red car came just around a corner now, hit the breaks hard and came spinning to a standstill at the roadblock. I made one last dash through the alley, and toward the bodyguards and my all-time-favorite gamer. Hope fluttered in my aching chest as I saw Matt was only just stepping out of his vehicle, hands raised above his head. 'Hey, hey! Gimme a break!' He said. 'Since when are the Japanese allowed to carry such big guns, anyway?' He smiled, but in his eyes, which were almost hidden behind his orange-tinted goggles, I could easily see he was scared.

Takada's men only raised their guns higher, fingertips on the triggers already.

'No!' I gasped, dashing forward once again. 'Please, don't shoot! He's done nothing wrong!'

Matt said quite the opposite of my words, which seemed to be unheard by everyone around me. 'Heh, you got me. I'm part of this whole kidnapping incident. I'm sure you have llooottss of questions to ask. You won't sho-'

'Please, no!' The sound of my voice was drowned by that of many guns firing at once, bullets bouncing off of Matt's car, and my own mind screaming words that not even I understood. When the gunfire finally stopped, and the smoke lifted, I saw Matt, bleeding all over, stumbling backwards and falling.

'Oh god, no! No, no, no! Please!' The words tumbled over my tongue in an uncontrollable wave, as I ran over to Matt's side, completely ignoring the bodyguards, and hauled him partially up by the shoulders, and wailed. As tears welled up in my eyes, I held him tighter, fighting back sobs. Is this how Naomi had felt when L died? Or Iris, when Beyond died? No. No, I guess it must've been worse for them. They lost the love of their lives, I lost one of my best friends. It came close, I think, but it's probably not the same at all. 'I'm sorry I came too late, Matt.' I whispered, loosening my hold on him, and slowly laying his body on the ground again. 'But I'll try to save Mello. I promise.'

But how? By running again? Impossible, I'd kill myself if I run even a single metre more. So how-?

Stupid, Madeline. Stupid. Isn't it _obvious?!_ I jumped into Matt's car, and started the engine. I had no idea how to drive, but I had to try, if I wanted to catch up to my friend in time. I crashed my foot down full force. Nothing happened.

'Shit,' I hissed through gritted teeth. 'Those are the breaks...' Okay, other one.

Thank goodness it worked! Now, I knew where the breaks were, so that was fine. Also, keeping my control over that damned steering wheel wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be. So far, it went well. It went well, damnit! Victory is mine, hahaha!

...okay, maybe I do need to sleep more. Yes, perhaps...

The sobs I had bit back just now, when I held Matt, escaped me anyway, as the image of his bleeding body falling to the ground repeated itself over and over in my head. I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes with one hand, before grasping the steering wheel again. Tears only blurred my vision, and for someone who has no license, yet is driving, that's pretty much the same as a bullet to the head. Bullet to the head... oh, Matt...

Wrong choice of words. Wrong, wrong, _wrong!_

I need to concentrate now. Is this not one of the streets Mello passed in the anime? Yes, I think it is. Which means I'm on the right way now. Maybe, I'll get there in time. I might be able to actually save Mello's life, even if I failed with Matt!

A smile managed to form itself on my tear-streaked face, even though I eas still sobbing softly. What a weird combination that must be, if someone'd see me now. But I didn't care. I was on my way to save my best friend's life, I didn't care about anything, so long as I arrived there in time.

But just ten minutes later, when I was on what looked to be a road in the middle of nowhere, fate turned against me once more.

No fuel left.

Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it! How the heck am I supposed to get to Mello now?! I got out of the car, kept on kicking the stupid tires as I went on with my furious rant in my head, while sobs tore my throat. Screw everything fate has done to me! First, I lose Iris, then Matt dies, and now that I thought I might have a chance to save at least _one_ of my friends...

..._this._

I hate it! I hate all of it! Fucking fate is playing a twisted game with me, that's it! Yes, fate was bored like Ryuk, and was looking for someone to play with, and whaddaya know, it chose me! _Fuck it!_

'Madeline?!'

'_What_?!' I scream, spinning around so fast, I hardly noticed I moved myself. It took me a few heartbeats to recognize the startled face of Aizawa and Ide, while Light, who was behind them, looked at me rather expressionlessly.

'W-what are _you_ doing h-here?' Aizawa stammers, taken aback by the rage and pain that flows from my voice like a tidal wave.

'I am -_was_ going after Mello, ofcourse!' I yelled back, trying but utterly failing to control my emotions. Somewhere in the back of my head, two pieces of a puzzle clicked together, and my face lit up. 'You're going there too, aren't you?'

The two in the front of the car nodded, while Light only blinked.

I let out a sound that felt like a mix of relieved laughter and crying and screaming at the same time. How such a thing could even come from my throat... I'll never know. 'Take me with you!' It was not a question, not a demand. No, neither of those.

It was an order. One they'd better follow, or I might just go half as crazy as Iris went, which was still something that could easily be defined as "deadly".

'Wha- why?'

The fucking morons! 'Just do it, damn it! And hurry up a bit, or don't you want to save Mello?' I urged them as I got in the car, and sat down beside Light, not even bothering to put on my seatbelts. Why the heck would I. Now, all three of them looked at me questionningly, and Ide corrected me; 'Don't you mean miss Takada?'

Oh, right. They were going to save _her_. 'Yes, I meant her. Now get the hell out of here, and off to Takada and Mello! _Hurry up!_'

As I told him, Aizawa sped forward over the road, and within minutes, an old stone building came into view.

Only problem is, it was _on fire_.

All four of us got out of the vehicle now, and saw another one standing there already. Halle Lidner stood just beside it, staring at the burning ruin with stunned, wide amber eyes. How could a human have amber eyes? I've never seen anyone like that before.

This thought passed my mind, but only for a tenth of a second.

The pain of seeing Matt die hadn't left me for even a single heartbeat yet, and now, this added up to it. 'No!' I wailed, my throat aching because of it. I hadn't screamed this much in a while. I made a dash for the flames, hoping to save at least _something_, but Ide held me back. 'Mello! Why the hell am I always too late?! First Matt, now Mello... oh please, no! No, no, no!' I kept on wailing, and now, it weren't only sobs that broke from my lips. I was screaming, wailing, crying, all while struggling to get out of Ide's strong grasp. Man, the guy was stronger that he looked. But then again, I didn't think straight right now, so I guess this was only safer for everyone here, including myself. After about... a minute? I just gave up, let my body go limp and fall to the ground, practically doubled over with my head on my knees, arms wrapped around myself as though I was searching for someone to hold me, comfort me, and let the wails tear from my mouth whenever they came, not holding back anything.

On moments like this, when pain tortured you so much you'd rather die right there and then, getting rid of them like this was the best thing to do. Bottling up was like writing your own death sentence, or that of those around you. Iris had been a great example for that. I knew she had cried, I knew she had screamed, but by far not enough. And look where it got her; murder, lies, and whatever more I did not know of.

Whatever happened, I would never let myself get as low as that bitch. Never.

She had been able to prevent this. She had been able to stop it, to save them. But she didn't. She _didn't care._

Oh, she'd pay. Trust me. I have just promised myself to never go as low as her, but hey, I can still hit the bottom of rationality. She had been buried far under that bottom, anyway.

Oh yes, Iris'd pay for this. I don't care how or when, so long as she'd feel the pain and betrayal I felt now.

* * *

**Oh god, how can I toture Madeline like this?**

**Oh right, because she's the _fictional version_ of my real friend. Okay, at least I'm not torturing _her_... *relieved sigh***

**Well, that was my very first other-character-PoV that's also an OC of mine, heehee!**

**I hope you liked it (please don't be angry at me for killing off_ more_ characters. Instead, be angry at Ohba and Obata, the authors of Death Note, who killed even more characters than I did!)...Pretty please?**

**And thanks for reading again!**


	69. Kyrie

**Chapter 69 already. Yes, the next chapter will be the last one for The Fantasy.**

**This takes place in episode 36, the second-last episode. Funny, isn't it? Second-last episode, second-last chapter.**

**While reading this, you might want to listen to some Death Note soundtrack. I listened to it while writing, so it's pretty much inspired by all of that. Especially the three versions of Kyrie (Kyrie, Kyrie II and Kyrie orchestral). I certainly recomend those three!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only My OCs are mine.**

* * *

The sun was setting, and thus, it was time for us to prepare ourselves to leave. Oh yes, today, the case would finally be over. Finally, the world would be rid of Kira, all my answers of what happens next will be answered. The truth will come out at last. I wore something I'd have never been able to imagine myself in; formal clothes. Okay, not a suit like all those boring _men_ on the Task Force wore -with the exception of Beyond, ofcourse. I had already found out that, if he retracted his wings, he could at least take his clothes _off_ (and perhaps change into something else, I don't know) unlike other Shinigami, but thank goodness he hadn't decided to go boring like the rest. But still, it was _formal_ what I wore. I had almost shruddered the moment I had looked at myself in a mirror. Eww... okay, there was black, but _no denim_. I _always _wore either black or dark colors, combined with jeans, and sometimes a denim jacket as well, if the mix looked okay. And this... it was dark, alright, but that's pretty much it.

But okay, if I got to see the end of that damned Kira, it was okay. Uncomfortable, but okay.

Now, things had pretty much stayed the same so far -with exception of my prescence, and that of Madeline -who hasn't talked to me since M and M's deaths. In fact, she hadn't even looked at me- and the knowledge that L would be there too. Yeah, except for those three major things, nothing had changed.

Aizawa had the Death Note on him, Light had a hard time not to laugh already, and Matsuda was being a scaredy-cat already.

As for Mikami, well, I guess he was on his way already, too. Perhaps not yet, who knows.

The six of us stood in front of the entrance to Near's warehouse -my god, he had puchased this place only for this occassion- and stopped there. Light turned around and looked at all of us with expressionless eyes. 'Well, is everyone ready to go in?' We all nodded, even though Matsuda hesitated for a moment, and a small twitch of the lips which was probably supposed to be a smile -Light had grown almost as emotionless as L at times- appeared on the liar's face, and Light nodded as well. 'Very well, then.' Then he turned around again, and we all followed him inside.

It was dark, damp. The only light that came in walked in front of me, you can put it like that. Every step we took echoed through the empty space. To anyone, this would seem like the perfect haunted house. The atmosphere was eerie enough, rats scrambled around all over the place, and the damp air combined with the cold of January could give anyone a chest infection. But to me, this was the perfect stage for what was about to happen. The greatest mass murderer in history of mankind was about to be beaten at his own game. Not a single secret would be left anymore, the whole truth would finally be revealed. Light is gone, he hasn't been here anymore for years. No, the man walking in front of me is Kira, darkness itself. Ever since Kira appeared, Light had been fading away, more rapidly withh every name he wrote down, until he was gone. There was nothing we could do to get him back, nothing to save him. He had written his own death sentence when he wrote that of criminals around the world.

And today was the date of execution.

Already, a weight was lifted of my shoulders, now that I knew it would be over today. No more investigating, no more lying, no more holding back the truth. It would all reveal itself today.

I fixed my gaze on Kira. _You have attained your goal, Kira. This is a new world. Crime rates have dropped, wars have stopped, all because of you. The thing is, you are a criminal yourself. The last obstacle that has to be removed in order to create a perfect world, is yourself._

_And we will make sure it happens. Kira, you are not all bad. Not at all. Your intentions were right, but the moment you proclaimed yourself a god, you only went downhill. You went from bad to worse, until you became evil itself. But don't worry. We'll erase you like your follower, your worshipper Mikami, has erased criminals for you._

_We'll make this a perfect new world. For all of us._

_Including you._

_When the sun rises again tomorrow, the dawn of the new world, may you rest in peace, Kira-sama._

The soft tapping of footsteps died away as wel halted, a few metres away from where the SPK stood, together with Mogi-san, Near and L.

Near was wearing his mask, ofcourse. But this time, it was not a mask of L, but of Mello. His fallen rival, his fallen comrade. Mello had been both to him. His mentor and his student. They have taught eachother so much, ever since the rivalry of becoming L's successor started. It was only natural for him to do this, I knew.

Kira growled at seeing both Near and L, and the face of the one enemy he's gotten rid of. This, too, was only natural for him to do.

Matsuda took a step forward, glaring at Near. 'What the heck? He's only trying to protect himself, wearing a mask like that!'

In response, Near tapped the mask twice. 'This is only a precaution. Chances are, Kira has already seen the faces of everyone in this room, except mine. Also, I'd like to wait an hour -no, make that thirty minutes. That should give us enough time to see if anyone is controlled before they die.'

He made it sound as though he was certain there'd be deaths today, yet, he knew quite the opposite. Only, he was wrong. More than one person would leave life this night. The Task Force looked at L, demanding his opinion on his successor's decision. The raven-haired ex-detective only nodded.

The time crawled by. The last light of the setting sun had disappeared from the dark, dusty and broken old windows, as night fell upon the world. A night in which so much would change. _This_ was what humans would call the Apocalypse; the end of an era, the birth of a new one. And all that in the few hours that the Earth was traveling around the sun, the light of it blocked by the moon, waiting for another dawn. I had always been an atheist, but now, I didn't hear silence at all. It was as though a real divine power was singing it's swan song, waiting for the arival of a new one. Was it, perhaps, true that Kira was a divine creature? He would die today. Would a new one take his place? A better one? I now understood the soundtracks in the anime, especially Kyrie. I really did hear that particular song just now, and it had never sounded so beautiful.

Yes. Time had crawled by. Yet, it felt as though it had only been a minute before Matsuda exclaimed to Near and L: 'It has been over thirty minutes already, and nothing has happened yet!'

'Very well,' Near said. 'I will take off my mask now, then.' And so he did, revealing his snow-white face and pale grey eyes, which had only faint traces of blue in them. He looked at us silently for a moment, then a smile spread across his face.

But all remained silent. Until Kira spoke up: 'Your both so quiet, Near, L. Are you... waiting for something?'

'Waiting, you say?' L said. 'Yes, Light. You always knew the exact words to use.' While Near turned around the small puppet that depicted Kira. 'We are waiting,' He said slowly. 'For the one person who will solve everything once and for all.'

Behind me, I heard Ide's voice behind me. 'S-someone else's supposed to clear this up? Why? You're L and Near, the world's two most intelligent people. Yet you need someone else's help?'

L only nodded, and Near answered: 'Oh, he'll be here soon. It's only a matter of time before he arrives. There is only one entrance to this building,' Saying this, he looked at the old, rusty door we had come through. 'And the only way to look inside, is by opening that door over there.' To this, L added: 'He'll come walking in here, or at least open this door and peek through.'

'Who is this person, anyway?!' Matsuda demanded beside me. Colc sweat trickeled over his face. He was scared, just like the others, yet he managed to sound confident that justice would win. He was, depsite his idiocy, however naive he could be, a remarkable person, I saw that now.

'X-Kira,' L answered him, to which Near added, holding up his Mikami-puppet. 'The person who's been using the notebook and killing people on Kira's behalf. He's bound to come here and bring the notebook with him.'

'He'll see us, and write down the names of everyone who knows about the notebook.' L went on. He and Near almost acted like twins sometimes did, finishing eachother's words like this. Only thing is, L is thirty, and Near is only sixteen or seventeen. Definitely not twins.

Matsuda took a step back in shock, and exclaimed in dismay: 'W-what?! What are you saying? Y-you mean some guy is going to come here with a notebook, poke his head in and kill us all?!'

'And you want us to sit back and let it happen?!' Ide added, just as dismayed as his colleague.

Near looked at them for a moment, annoyed. 'Yes, that's correct. Now listen carefully. Should anyone enter the warehouse through that door, just let him in without resisting. Should the door open slightly, simply act as if you don't notice.'

'But that's just crazy!' Matsuda protested.

'Quiet!' L spat at his ex-co-worker, voice slightly hushed but still loud enough to sound threatening and brimming with authority, like he always did. 'He's already here, damnit!' Matsuda, still used to following L's orders, shut up immediatly. But maybe it was because he was scared, too. I glanced sideways at the door, which was indeed opened partially, one blood-red eye peeking inside, flashing from one face to another. A soft, constant chanting of "delete" could be heard on the other side of it. Matsuda grabbed his gun in panic, but commander Rester stopped him. 'Stop! Don't do anything!'

'You won't die.' L added, and Near explained. 'We have modified the notebook. We took reposession of the nnotebook and replaced the pages. The person behind that door has been doing the killings for Kira. He has also been using exactly one page a day. Based on that, we have been able to replace the page he would use today, as well as all the others that follow, so that no one will die.'

L nodded in agreement. 'In approximately forty seconds, he will look inside to see if we have died. That's our chance to restrain him, and chack the notebook. Whoever's name isn't written down _must _be Kira.'

My heart skipped a beat in panic. One thing I hadn't considered yet. In this world, I didn't have a name or a lifespan.

Oh no...

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**The next chapter will be up either later today (in Dutch time. So it might just be tomorrow wherever you live), or tomorrow. But The Fantasy will be finished this weekend.**

**I hope you liked it, I really do. Thank you all for those reviews, and favorites, and whatever more. Really, thank you for reading.**


	70. Finale part I

**!*Ridiculously long chapter alert*!**

**Okay, this was supposed to be my last chapter, but I got carried away... and it became too long. Over. Four-thousand. Words.**

**And I wasn't even done yet.**

**So, I decided to split this chapter, anyway. They will be uploaded the same moment, and the next one is considered "Chapter 70; Finale Part II", not a real seperate chapter.**

**Okay, cliffhanger on the last one, so I hope you'll enjoy this!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

* * *

The sound of rapidly beating hearts was the only thing that reached my ears, as we waited the forty seconds after Mikami had written down the names in his notebook. My own mind was blank, while I knew that those of the Task Force, and perhaps of the SPK members as well, were racing with panic and fear. They had no idea what would happen, if L and Near had been right, or if they'd die at the end of thses seconds, anyway.

But what L had said...Whoever's name isn't written down _must_ be Kira...

_What if they turn suspicion on me as well?_

No. No, they wouldn't. L knew better than to suspect me of being Kira, he knew me too well for that. As for Near, he was way too adamant on "Light Yagami is Kira", just like his predecessor. They wouldn't think _I'm _Kira, how ridiculous. No, Iris. There's no need to worry. Just stay cal now. Kira will die tonight, and so will Mikami, but no one else. Just. Stay. Calm.

'You there, outside,' Kira said calmly, smiling widely. 'Have you written our names down yet?'

A voice came fromt the other side of the door, no hesitating a single moment before answering: 'Yes, I've written them.'

Everyone around me exchanged rather scared glances, but Near, who still sat quietly, said: 'Don't you think it's rather odd?' This caught the attention of everyone, and once we all had our eyes on the young albino, he looked up as well. 'Why would he answer you so calmly when you asked him if he had written our names yet?'

Kira shrugged, completely in his perfect little act. 'Who knows? Maybe he is just honest. Or confident that he'll succeed, or... perhaps he's seen through your perfect plan.'

On my left, Matsuda gasped. 'If that's the case then... we're in big trouble.'

And right then, everyone went quiet again. And it was exactly that silence that annoyed L just now. 'Teru Mikami,' He said, obviously trying not to let the annoyance seep through in his voice. 'If it's not too much trouble for you,'

'Would you please come in and join us?' Near finished for his former mentor.

Only silence met their words, so Near explained: 'I already know that it's you, Teru Mikami, who's been judging people for Kira. And if you've already written down our names, then there is nothing to be afraid of.'

'You can come right in, no problems at all.' This time, the roles were switched around and L finished Near's words. Kira, who was still smiling confidently -how come no one else noticed that? It made everything way too obvious- looked at the door now, too.

'Teru Mikami, is it? They're right, you can come in if you want.' This earned him a pair of dismayed looks from the Task Force members, who gasped in shock. Ofcourse, they couldn't believe their leader, Light Yagami, would let a mass murderer walk right in like that, no problem at all.

Oh, if only they knew...

In answer to this, a slow, loud creaking sound could be heard coming from the old rusty door, which was opening slowly, reavealing a formal-looking man standing outside of it. The only things on him that revealed he wasn't the perfect polite person he seemed to be, was the killer notebook in his hands, and the crazed grin that practically split his face in half. He looked at L and Near first, then at Kira. For a moment, his gaze rested on me, and confusement flickered in his red eyes. But that was soon shaken off.

'How many seconds has it been since you wrote the last name?' Kira asked him, to which Mikami looked on his watch, eyes wide but irises small and bright, the smile on his pale face spreading with the second.

'Thirty seconds. Thirty-one. Thirty-two. Thirty-three. Thirty-four...' As he kept on counting, I brought my gaze to Kira, who had a hard time to not to laugh as he first looked at Mikami, then at L and Near, who were to intent on watching Mikami like everyone else to notice. 'Thirty-seven. Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine...'

Kira now narrowed his eyes at his two enemies, a soft laugh audible in his voice as he quietly said: 'Well, Near, L, it looks like I win.'

'FORTY!' The second Mikami shouted this, Matsuda dropped to the ground, hands covering his head and eyes shut tight, cowering. To anyone, it might seem he indeed had a heart attack in the first second, but that idea would soon disappear like ashes in the wind. Yet, everyone around me was quiet, tension and fear thickening the atmosphere, while Kira's rage at his failure scorched a blazing heat through it. The look of dismay on Mikami's face was clear, and his mouth was moving soundlessly as he tried to speak words of dibelief and protest. It took the Task Force a second or ten to calm down again, and see that not one person had been struck down by a heart attack yet. Matsuda looke up now, too. 'W-we're all still alive...' He mumbled, before slowly getting up again. 'It's been over a minute, and... we haven't died!'

The look on Kira's face was priceless, really. Eyes wide, jaw dropped, staring at nothing in particular. The same sort of expreassion now crossed Mikami's face, but changed to an ashamed, appologetic one when he laid his eyes on his "god".

Near and L, however, had the same annoyed look in htier eyes as they had earlier. Then L let out a bored, exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes, saying: 'Told you so...' Near gave him a swift, correctional poke in the side, to which the ex-detective growled at the albino. 'Was that really necessary, Near?' He demanded angrily. Apparently, it had hurt quite a bit. Maybe the albino kid wasn't as weak as he looked, then. Now it was his turn to sigh, as Near muttered: 'Yes, L. I'm sorry, but you were losing your preofessionality. Again.'

'I don't even _have_ to be professional anymore!' L scoffed quietly. 'I'm not a detective anymore, anyway.'

'And they call me childish...'

Mikami, who had been staring at the names in his notebook, then those floating above everyone's heads and back again, now exclaimed: 'B-b-but why?! _Why won't they die_?!' He was shaking, eyes full of something that almost looked like fear. Kira stared at him in shock, almost as to give him a silent message. But Mikami didn't notice. Turning to Kira, he went on: 'God! I did _everything_ you told me!'

Now Near intervered. 'Rester, Gevanni, take him now!' The two men obeyed without hesitation, dashing toward the stunned Mikami, tackeling him and then handcuffing the young man. In the progress, Mikami dropped his notebook, and L walked over to it and picked the black murder weapon up. He gave a quick glance at the names written in there, and smirked. He then turned it around for all of us to look at, and said: 'The first names, L Lawliet, Nate River, Halle Bullook, Stephen Loud and Anthony Carter, are without a doubt me, Near and the SPK. Now, the names in Kanji are all yours. And right here, is Madeline Greene. The only names that haven't been written down, are Light Yagami and Iris den Weerden.'

I gave him the exact same glare as Kira did. The-! He told them my name wasn't in there!

Near went on for L. 'And if that isn't enough, Light Yagami, Mikami also adressed you as "god", and said he did what you wanted him to.' He blinked once, and then said the words I had been waiting for. 'You, Light Yagami, are Kira.'

For a moment, silence once again filled the warehouse. But then, Kira exploded. Not literally. 'It's a trap!' He exclaimed, panic unhidden in his voice. 'This is all part of a plan Near and L created to frame me!' He then pointed at Mikami, and added: 'I don't even know this guy! And what about Iris?!'

The moment Kira had said he had never seen Mikami before, the young man let out a whimper and let his head hang even lower than his shoulders. What a shame his precious god had abandoned him in the end. And Aizawa walked over to behind Kira, laid a hand on his shoulder and said: 'Light, it's too late to deny it. Just a moment ago, you said "it looks like I win". How much more of a confession do we need?' He let go of Kira, who fixed his gaze on the cold and damp floor, seemingly admitting defeat. Now, Ide and Mogi also moved closer to him, holding handcuffs. The moment Mogi touched Kira's wrist, however, the now-exposed mass murderer protested and fled, stumbling and falling to the ground once, before scrambling up to his feet again and crashing down against one of the walls, a bewildered look on his face. The hunter had become the prey, and he knew it all too well.

'Light Yagami,' Near said. 'Second-L, _Kira_. It's over. You've lost the game.'

'Just a moment ago, you've claimed your victory, expecting us all to die.' L added, and Near went on:

'And to tell the truth, you might have actually won, and we would have lost.' After that, there came a long explanation, and I forced my heart to beat a little slower again, now that I saw they wouldn't go into the matter of my name not being present, either. Yet.

'We ended up doind exactly what you expected us to, and altered the fake notebook in Mikami's posession.'

'However,' L continued. 'When we said we had modified the notebook, we meant the real one as well as the fake.'

Kira's eyes widened even further, a single, clear question in them. A question that was answered soon. _How_?

This time, it was Near again who spoke. 'We only switched a part of the fake notebook, but as for the real one,' He flipped away the tiny notebook in the Mikami-puppet's hands, revealing a very small piece of cloth, on which I remembered was written "fake". 'We replaced the entire thing.'

To this, Both Kira and Mikami gasped. They hadn't seen that one coming, that's for sure. Near then stuck his hand under his shirt, and pulled out yet another notebook. 'The Death Note here is actually the real one.'

Again, a gasp from Kira, who took a quick step back, almost stumbling. 'No! I-impossible!' He protested. L took a step closer to him, to which Kira only stumbled back even further. I had never once imagined him to be afraid of his old enemy like this. 'It is possible, Light-kun.'... and I had never imagined L to ever call Kira Light-kun again. But why not, now that it was over, anyway. Ofcourse, it had all been an act, from both men, but they had gotten very close to real friendship once, when Kira had lost his memories of the Death Note and once more became Light Yagami, the perfect top-student and the politest young man you would ever meet. Because that was exactly what he had once been, exactly what he had thrown away for an ideal that turned out to be, though absolutely not fruitless, quite different than he had intended. He had thrown everything he was and could have been away, and that knowledge made this end, however much I had longed to see it... _painful_. Emotional. But I blocked that emotion. If anything, it was emotion that would work against me now, weaken me.

Good thing I had become as much an expert in blocking out emotions as L, Near and Kira were.

'We used the same pen as Mikami to copy the handwriting even more perfectly,' Near explained to Kira, and everyone else. 'And made the inside and outisde look exactly like the original, to even the smallest detail. Gevanni managed to do it in a single night.' When his superior said this, the black-haired man smiled proudly. Then Near took the notebook from the floor again, and held it up. 'Ofcourse, since L and I had touched the notebook before coming, we have been able to see the Shinigami from the very beginning.'

In the shadows behind me, Ryuk let out a surprised 'Oh?'. Near smiled at him, and politely said: 'It's a pleasure to meet you, mister Shinigami. I am Near.'

Ryuk laughed softly. 'Henh henh, nice to meet you, too, Near and L. My name is Ryuk.'

I heard a soft, dismayed whisper from Kira, which echoed through the room as though it was nothing but wind. 'What the-? He's having a conversation with Ryuk?!'

Meanwhile, Near and the White-skinned Shinigami continued their conversation. 'Some pages of this notebook are torn,' The albino kid said. 'Would the torn-off pieces still have the same effect as the real notebook?'

'Near,' L put in, rolling his eyes. 'I have already told you, they do. Another Shinigami told me herself.'

'Still, I want to hear it from a real Shinigami's mouth.' Near protested. Okay, now I had the sudden, unexpected urge to just say "yes, it's true". Damnit, that would've gotten me in trouble.

'Henh henh. Yes, they'll work for sure.' Ryuk answered.

Near nodded, and turned to Kira. 'I bet this was of great use to you,' He said. 'I wonder how many times you decieved us with this, and how many people you killed.' He narrowed his eyes, and both him and L said at exactly the same time: 'Light Yagami, _you are Kira_.'

Kira, who was shaking on his spot against the wall now, first stared at the two detectives while trying to figure out how they could have found out, then shifted his gaze and glared at Mikami, clearly asking himself if his worshipper might have betrayed him somehow. Near, who noticed this, said: 'Whatever you're thinking, Kira, you're mistaken. This was all thanks,' He held up one of his puppets. One with blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and a scarred, grinning face. 'To Mello.'

'W-what?' Kira stammered. '_Mello_?'

'I believe that if I explain this much, you'll begin to understand.' He held up the notebook again -the fake one that Mikami had used. 'Please take a close look at this page of the notebook.' He said, flipping one page back, and pointing to the top of it. And there it was;

_Kiyomi Takada, suicide. Burns to death by setting fire t everything around her, including everything she wrote on. January 26th. 2:33 P.M._

'Takada's name is in the notebook!' Kira gasped. 'I-I was the one who killed her, but... here...just one minute later...' He then rounded up on the still-handcuffed Mikami, glaring at him with pure rage in his eyes. 'Did you do the same thing I did?!'

The young man was shaking as he answered: 'G-God! Y-you told me you couldn't move freely... I h-had to make sure Takada was t-taken care of! Wasn't that my duty to you?!' He was still clearly dismayed, and it got only worse.

'You- you idiot! I had speciffically told you not to make any unnecessary movements until today!' Kira yelled back, high-pitched with rage.

Now, the amber-eyed woman, Lidner, took a step forward to explain the Mello-thing further. 'I... I worked with noth Near and Mello. When I told him Near had figured out everything could be solved by having a new name being written in the Death Note... he said; "If that's the case... only I can do it." At the time, I didn't know exactly what he meant. But now I do. Mello has willingly given up his life for this case to be solved. If he hadn't died for us, we'd have never come this far.'

Madeline, whom I hadn't heard this whole night, let out a soft wail that she cut off herself, by pushing her hand over her mouth. After that came a short series of sobs before she controlled herself again. 'H-h-he k-knew he'd die...' She half-whispered to herself. 'He knew... and so did Matt...T-they knew...' Lidner blinked at her sympathetically, then went to stand by her side and laid a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. No one but me had known just how close she had been with Mello and his friend, how much she had loved the two until the night she had seen both of them die. A pang of pity went through me, cutting a gash in my heart. A gash I healed within seconds. Feel sorry for Madeline? No. I wouldn't feel sorry for her, or anyone. Not tonight. Perhaps, one day, we might restore our friendship. But _not_ tonight.

'My guess is,' Near's voice brought me back from my internal emotion-erasing process, and I wrenched my gaze away from Madeline's tear-streaked face and back to the albino. 'That Mello knew in his heart, that if we worked alone, we could never attain our goal to surpass our mentor, L. But together... together, we could stand with L, work with him and fight Kira, who had, for all we knew, defeated L, and with solid evidence beat Kira at his own game!' Then he became stoic once more. 'Let's see if how you'll try to talk yourself out of this one... _if you can_.'

Everything became silent. Until, after half a minute, Kira snapped. At first it was quiet, but then his laugh became stronger, with more feeling to it, more of that psychotic laughter that was typical for a cornered criminal. Then, suddenly, he became quiet again, and looked up. His eyes really did seem to have a red glow to them now. 'That's right.' He said. 'I am Kira. But hear this; I am Kira, but I am also God of the New World. Kira has become law in the world we now live._He's _the one who's maintaining order. I have become justice. The only hope for mankind. Kill me? Is that really the right thing to do? Since Kira's appearance six years ago, crime rates have dropped with over seventy percent and wars have stopped. But it's still not enough. This world is still rotten!... with too many rotten people... Somebody _has_ to do this! And when I first got the Death Note, so long ago, I _knew_. I knew that it was _my_ job to do it. No... I was _the only one who could!_ I understood that killing people was a crime... there was no other way, the world _had to be fixed_! A purpose given to me!... only I could do it... Who else could have done it?! Would they have kept going, and come this far?!' He stepped back again. 'The only one who can save this world... is _me_. Yes. I am Kira. But I am also... God of the New World.'

His words were met by laughter. Laughter that sounded worse than his had done, laughter that felt colder and eerier than his. Laughter... that came from me. 'Kyaahaahaaaa! God- o-of- t-t-the New World?! Eehhaahaaa! Kira, my dear,' I added once I had gotten more quiet. 'You. Are. Mad.' I could feel the astonished gazes of everyone burn into me, but I took no notice. 'You are no god, Kira. You have never been one.' I said as I slowly and threateningly got closer to him. 'I, however,' I grinned as widely as I had done when I had first become The Reaper. '_Am_.'

Scared, Kira opened his watch and began writing my name in it, but he was stopped by Matsuda's bullet that hit him right in the wrist. Oh, seeing Kira blled like this only made me laugh again. 'Kira, _please_...' I said, still grinning at him. 'Hasn't Higuchi taught you all that you can't kill me with that?' I then stuck my hand under my shirt, and pulled out the one thing no had seen. My Death Note. 'I have one too, you know.' But that wasn't everything I had hiddden. The other, I pulled out of my shoe and from under my trousers. A shining, gleaming razor-sharp knife.

Just then, I felt a stabbing pain through my back. Yet, I only laughed when I turned around to see Matsuda pointing his gun at me. He had shot me, the idiot! 'Kyahaha! Mastu, really. You can't kill me! Haven't I just saud that I am a real godess? I am a Shinigami, moron! I am immortal!'

More bullets went through me, but depite the fact I felt the pain, there wasn't a single drop of blood spilled. With this, the pain could easily be overlooked. 'That's why there is no name in the notebook! _I don't have one_, kyahahaaa!'

'Iris,' A familiar voice sounded behind me, but I paid no attention to it. 'Iris, please... stop this.'

Then came Near's voice. 'Oh right, I forgot to add,' He sounded very sarcastic just now. 'Everyone, Iris den Weerden, or no-name, is The Reaper.' More shocked gasps, more laughter. The voice behind me -of whom I still hadn't placed the owner yet- sounded pleading now, as was the one voice that always brought me back to reason. Always. But not now. Beyond's. 'Iris, stop it! This isn't you, haven't I told you already?!'

'Oh, shut up, Beyond!' I spat back, holding back my laughter for just one moment. 'I just wanna have _fun_.' I then raised my knife above my head, grinning as I looked down at Kira, who lay bleeding on the ground. Suddenly, a hand grabbed my shoulder and I spun around, lashing down my knife in that person first, before tending to the other murderer. Blood spattered up and against my face, while a pained 'Nah!' Hit my ears.

And my heart stopped. Figuratively.

'L!' I gasped, almost screaming. 'Oh god, oh god, no!' It was only in his shoulder, not very deep. His lifespan hadn't changed either. He wouldn't die.

But I hurt him. I hurt my friend.

Shaking, I moved my hand to his bleeding wound, but L hit my hand away and stumbled backwards, teeth clenched and panting from the pain. Throat tight, I looked at everyone around me. Disappointment. Shock. Betrayal. Pain. It had all come back, just as strong as when they learned of Kira's identity earlier this night. Beyond and Madeline were both looking at me with tears in their eyes, as if neither of them could really believe what I had just done.

What I had become.

What the heck have I become?! Why did I ever do this in the first place, I... I'm a monster! I'm a demon, I know, but that doesn't give me the right to act like one! I've become a monster. I- I never meant to be one!

Tears welled up in my eyes, and my lips began to tremble as I slowly took a few steps back. 'I's so sorry...' I whispered. 'I-I'm s-so sorry...' I started trmabling all over, and now, the tears began to fall as my voice became a little louder. 'I never... I never meant to... to become like this...' A sob slipped through my lips as I said 'I'm so sorry!' once more.

And fled.

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**Finally. Finally, sense and reason have come back to her.**

**Yush...**

**The next part is ready, too~!**


	71. Finale part II

**This is it. The last part of The Fantasy.**

**This is it, then. Man, it feels weird, ending a project I've been working on for over two months now. Really gives me mixed feelings. I'm happy that I managed to finish it, and that so many people liked this story enough to read it from beginning to end, even though it's long and definitley boring sometimes XD. **

**Oh yeah, a little warning for this chapter: there are PoV switches in here.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Death Note or any other fiction mentioned in this. Only my OCs are mine.**

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**Madeline's PoV**

Iris had fled, and so did Light. The two criminals, the two murderers, had now become prey themselves. And we were the hunters now, the ones who had to go and catch them. My mind was blank as Aizawa-san went to stand in front of the Task Force, and split us up in search parties.

'Mogi and Ide, please come with me. We're going after Light.' He said, then turned to me. 'Madeline, you and Matsuda have to follow Iris. Please catch her.' And so, Aizawa, Ide and Mogi left. And just when Matsuda and I were at the doorway as well, we heard a voice from behind.

'Hey, w-wait for me... I'm g-going as well.'

I spun around to see L, who had his teeth clenched and a hand still grasping the stab wound in his shoulder, following us. I shook my head quickly. 'No, idiot. You're hurt. Stay here.'

He just smirked and kept on going, pausing when he stood beside me. 'Compared to dying, bleeding a little isn't so bad.' I just poked him on that wound, and he let out a hiss of pain between clenched teeth. 'Though it does hurt, yes... But I don't care.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Fine then.' And thus, the three of us ran outside. Or rather, the four of us. Beyond was flying only just behind us, and after only ten seconds, he asked: 'Is it okay if I go fly a little higher? I might be able to spot her.'

I nodded. 'Ofcourse. Thanks, Beyond.' This earned me a rather confused glance from Matsuda, but I didn't bother to explain. Once Beyond had gone up, I whispered to myself: 'Well... I think I know where she might be going, anyway.'

* * *

**Iris' PoV**

I had no idea where my feet were taking me, except for one thing; away. Far away. How would I ever be able to show my face again, to anyone? It was all my own fault. I had done this, I had become The Reaper, for no reason at all. No good reasons. It had been sick, I had been sick. A monster.

And monsters have to be erased from this world... like Kira had tried to do.

I clasped my fingers tighter around my knife, which I hadn't yet dropped.

Only after minutes did I see where my legs had led me in mmy attempt to flee.

The cemetery. It was empty, abandoned. No one was here.

Exactly what I needed.

My vision blurred by tears, I went to search for the one grave I had never visited, yet contained the one thing I missed with all my heart.

Beyond's grave.

The moment I laid eyes on it, I wailed, allowed myself to crash down on it on my knees and cry. I had never meant to become anything what I did become, never meant to do what I had done, never meant to cause what I had caused.

'I'm so sorry, Beyond...' I whispered between sobs. 'I'm so sorry... for everything. To everyone...'

There was only one thing I could do, I knew that. I raised my knife slowly, and closed my eyes.

Only one thing I could do to bring myself to justice, and that was exactly what I'd do.

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**Madeline's PoV**

Beyond came flying back down, a panicked look in his scarlet eyes. 'She's gone to the cemetery.' He said. 'You know, the one where Watari is, and L's empty grave, and... mine.' Yeah, I could understand it must be weird to talk about your own grave.

But why had Iris decided to go there? What the heck was that crazy bitch planning to do next?

I just nodded and pushed those thoughts away. 'Alright. Cemetery it is, then. Let's hurry!'

And thus, we kept on running until we reached it, where we didn't even have to search for her. No, she made it clear where she was.

Her crying could be heard even from here, the entrance. And then a wail: 'Why can't I die?!'

Oh god, what was she trying to-? 'Come on!' I urged Matsuda and L on, and ran to the source of the sound.

And there she sat, on Beyond's grave, crouched, crying, screaming that she wanted to die. I may have said I hated her. I may have said I wanted to see her in pain. But I had never thought she'd go this far... and she has paid, just like I wanted her to.

I hesitated before taking a slow step toward her. 'Iris..?' She didn't listen, so I took another step closer, repeating her name. As I now stood at her side, I could see her own knife sticking out of her chest like a thorn from a rose's stem. She... had tried to commit suicide?! Why?! 'Iris!' I exclaimed, crouching down in front of her. She still didn't answer me, only kept on crying, mumbling "sorry" over and over again.

How the hell would I have been able to still be angry with her now? No. No, that was impossible. And besides... I was beginning to feel we had never really hated eachother. Never. We have just had an argument, a disagreement. That's all. We have never, ever, ended our friendship. Not in my opinion.

I laid one hand on her shoulder, used the other one to pull her face up so she'd have to look at me. But she had her eyes shut tight, and refused to open them no matter what. So I let go of her again, my gaze lowering to the knife in her. There was not a single drop of blood spilled. That's what you get for being a Shinigami, then. I bit my lip and moved my fingers around it, reluctantly. Oh, I so didn't want to do this... I gave a soft, hesitating pull, and Iris winced. Okay, so despite being immortal, she _did_ feel the pain. Just what I had been afraid of. 'I-I'm sorry, Iris.' I apologized quietly, and gave one more, harder pull, getting the knife out at once. Iris winced again, but still refused to look up. When I had gathered the courage to look at the blade, I was ever glad to see that there wasn't even one drop of blood on it, and threw it aside, turning back to my friend.

'I'm...I-I'm so s-s-sorry, M-Madeline...' When Iris said this, I couldn't help but be astonished. Astonished, and extremely happy. My mouth twitched into a smile, and I pulled her close, hugging my firend tightly.

No matter what she had done, no matter what I had thought of her... we were still friends. We've never stopped being friends at all, not for even one second.

And now... I simply cried as well. Cried in relief...

* * *

**Iris' PoV**

A wave of warmth went through me, the moment Madeline hugged me like that. I...I thought she hated me... I really thought she hated me, for everything I had done to her, and to others.

When I felt her beginning to cry as well, I just returned her embrace.

I had my friend back...one of the best firends I had ever had...I had her back...

_Thank you_...

'Thank you, Madeline...' I whispered, my voice hoarse. 'Thank you so much...'

She began to shake a bit, but I was pretty sure it was because she was laughing a bit. 'H-how could I be angry with you now, Iris? I-I wanted you to pay for what you had done... and you did. This has been enough pain, don't you think?'

I nodded, but didn't speak. I was... dizzy. Not the same dizzyness as when I'm about to wake up, though. It was different, and I just couldn't really place it.

What was going on? I had no idea anymore. The only thing I was still aware of was Madeline. And Beyond, I was pretty sure he sat beside us.

Behind me were people, too. But I couldn't really be sure who they were. I just... didn't know.

The dizzyness only got worse and worse, and eventually...

...I just blacked out.

* * *

'Iris?' A voice broke through the black clouds that blurred my mind, and I grunted. Man, I had a headache. 'Iris, wake up, will you?'

Reluctantly, I flickered my eyes open, and closed them again. When had the sun begun to shine so brightly? When I had left the warehouse, it had been only just sunrise. But the voice urged me again, and I just blinked the open once more. And there was Madeline, hovering over me. But... she looked...younger.

Her _real_ age. What the hell?

'Are we...' I stammered as I got up slowly. I felt grass under my hands. What was goign on, really? 'Are we awake?'

Madeline shook her head. 'No. No, I don't think so.' The she scanned me with her gaze, and concluded the same thing I had just done with her. 'Iris, you look... like yourself. Sixteen, not in your mid-twenties. I- I don't know what's going on just now.'

I looked around, confused. It took me a while, but suddenly, I recognized this place. 'Hell, no...' I muttered. 'Isn't this-?'

Madeline interrupted me. 'A moment ago, we were at the cemetery, with L and Matsuda there, too. And now, we're suddenly here. B-Beyond is here too, though, but that doesn't surprise me much anymore.'

I held up my hand, not responsing, hoping she'd get the message and be quiet for a moment. Thank goodness she did. 'Madeline, look around you. Don't you recognize this place?'

'What should I recognize?'

I shook my head. 'This is Light's school!' I said. 'Light's school, from the beginning of the series! This is where he first finds the Death Note, remember?'

For a moment, Madeline looked confused as she looked around the terrain, and at the large building. But then: 'Go fuck a duck, you're right!' She exclaimed, her green eyes wide. 'Does this mean-? Is the world-?'

I nodded, just as stunned as her. 'I- I think it's been reverted again or something. Is that what happens when the story ends?'

'It seems so.' Beyond's voice came from behind us. I spun around to look at him. 'But how come you're still here, then?' I protested, demanded, whatever.

He just shrugged. 'Have I not already explained that once? For the same reason I'm with you in your own world. I'm your Shinigami, you're my human. I have to stay with you until you either lose the Death Note or die, whatever dimension you're in.'

Okay. That was reassuring.

I guess.

I heard something hit the ground, followed by a startled "eep!" from Madeline. Once again, I spun around, and saw how my friend was pointing at a void-black notebook that had flopped down on the ground, had fallen from the sky, two silver words shining on it.

_Death Note_

We both stared at it for a moment, then at eachother, the notebook and back again. And then we both started laughing.

'No, thanks!' I laughed, standing up. 'I have seen enough of this world!'

Madeline got to her feet again, too, and nodded. 'Yeah, me too.'

And so we walked away as the dizzyness once again came to us. Time to wake up. And we had together decided never to go back here again.

But whatever it may have been, even though it had been a life we lived in a world of dreams, there was on thing we knew for sure.

The life we had lived in here, had been all but a fantasy.

_~The End~_

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**Okay, time for a few thank-yous;**

**Thanks to everyone who read this, reviewed, favorited or followed. Seeing all that gave me my daily smile or laughter in the past two months. Thanks to everyone who helped me with ideas for this story, and to the real Madeline, who gave me live-reviews in school almost every day! XD**

**There will be a sequel, as I've already said, and I will start working on it imediatly; _One Bridge Apart_**

**And now, some fun facts about several of my Ocs' names.**

**Amy's name differs a lot from her real one in letters, but only one in pronunciation!**

**My father's real name is actually indeed Cornelis, and my mother's Johanna, but they get called otherwise by everyone!**

**Some people, if they've only just met me, actually make the mistake of calling me Iris. First, I used to be annoyed by this, but after writing this story, I feel strangely proud everytime someone calls me Iris XD**

**And my cat's name, Nessa, was Vanessa at first, just like that of the Nessa in this story. But we changed it pretty soon after we got her, just like Naomi and L did!**

**Okay, and that was it, then!**

**I really hope you enjoyed The Fantasy, and please keep on the lookout for One Bridge Apart!**


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